"Milder" restrictions on air travel due to ash in the air

Recently there were news about changes in the limits to air travel due to ash in the air. The limits were changed from 100 micro-grams per cubic meter to 2000 micro-grams per cubic meter, 20-fold increase !

Now, in the news, they are saying that temporarily at least, airplanes can fly through much denser ash clouds (although I haven't seen the numbers yet).

Also in the news recently, was a discussion that even with the strict limits, in some cases ash was seen on the inside of the jet engines. Although not enough to stop them.

I hope that with "milder" limits, the check-ups and cleaning of engines is also increased drastically.

This will though cost money, and the reason for "milder" limits seems to be mostly driven by the pressure of the travel industry (?).

Ash from the eruption plume tracing the particle paths in a low north of Iceland

Interesting to see on the satellite image below how the ash from the eruption plume from Eyjafjallajökull traces the streamlines in the low north of Iceland.

Image from the NASA Rapidfire – MODIS sensor onboard the Terra satellite. Image taken 13 May 2010,at 12:00.

The level of particulate mattter (PM) was quite high in Vik yesterday, about 430 micro-g per cubic meter (micro-g/m3), averaged over the day (the health limit is 50 in the same units).

Looks like Vik will have high levels again today!

Particulate matter (PM) and eruption plume

Recently the level of PM₁₀, particles with a diameter less than 10 mm (10^-5 m), has been really high in Vik (~40 km SE of volcano) and surrounding areas. High being daily average of more than 10, and even, 20-times, the recommended health limit (50 mg/m³), and reaching values above 10 000 mg/m³. For comparison values reaching at most 2 000 mg/m³ are reached just after midnight on New year’s eve!

The satellite image below, from today, shows the eruption plume extending above the low clouds surrounding the Eyjafjallajökull volcano (and western part of the country).

Image from ESA’s Meris satellite on 12 May 2010, at 12:18.

Eyjafjallajökull eruption 15-17 April 2010

The eruption plume from a distance.

Eruption at Eyjafjallajokull - 20100415-17

Þröstur Þ.

Pictures of the eruption

Went east to the eruption site with Þorsteini J. from the Environmental Agency in Iceland, to move the PM10 instrument in Vik. We were lucky with the weather, but there was a bit of ash fall in Vik (this is 5 May 2010).

Took a few pictures, amazing to be so close to something that violent, but still there is a strange calm about it also – difficult to explain.

Eldgosið í Eyjafjallajökli

Sincerely, Throstur.

Eruption plume

Seen nicely NASA MODIS images that the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) processes – using code that I worked on.

This image from 1 May shown the plume at 22:50 very nicely.

This image from 2 May also shows the plume very well, taken at 04:30.