http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8578576.stm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_iceland_volcano


Nine countries have closed their airspace due to the ash. 25% of the European flights are affected. According to the news here, this is the first time a volcano erupting has influenced air traffic on this scale. I guess that makes it a historical event.

The ash could keep coming for weeks, even months. The last time Eyjafjallajøkull was active, it kept erupting from December 1821 to June 1823.

I have always been interested in natural phenomenon like this, so I am very excited about it.

From the veranda I could smell the volcanic ash flying above. (I'm not kidding or exaggerating, my parents have noticed it too.) It smelled weird, kind of ashy, burned, + something I can't really put my finger on. I have never experienced this before so I am almost on a high now, bursting with excitement! As soon as I have typed this I'm going back out to smell it again! XD

Wow...sounds exhilarating . Hope it doesn't affect your respiratory health in the future. Don't suck up too much of that polluted air Skilpaddle!

Thanks for your warning.

I know it's not terribly healthy to inhale. But I just have to enjoy it while it lasts. I'll try to reduce the exposure, though, enjoying it in small quanta.

It's said the ash cloud would reach Munich by 6pm here (it's 11:21am here) and the Munich Airport will be closed, too. I wonder if I'm able to notice anything. Even my online acquaintances from Northern Germany said they didn't notice anything on the sky or in the air.

Anyways - I'm a fan of seldom natural phenomena.
(I'm still sad I missed the solar eclipse in '99...)

thats bad, ^^ im a huge fan of natural phenomena too! but im also totally into space, i saw when the discovery docked at the ISS this winter it was crazy! they must have docked at a speed i cannot imagine. i just saw them a few minutes because they were much too fast. like a firefly tring to catch the other.

i was lucky that day i just heard it in the radio 20 minutes before they were visible over germany/hessen

It's affected Scotland. All flights have been stopped.

This intelligent, eloquent gentleman speaks on behalf of the whole nation:

^






More impressive pictures here.
Click!

Haha funny vid, I saw something similar when i was watching the live feed yesterday from one of the airports, i think it was Heathrow or something.
The reporter was interviewing some people about how the delays affected them and some codger came up and said "first governments stealing our money and now they're stopping our flights", it was pretty funny.

^An Icelander said that so what if the flights to Europe was stopped? They couldn't afford to fly anyway! (For those who may not know, Iceland went bankerupt recently. The banks had taken too many chances that didn't pay off and Iceland is heavily in debt to several countries.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8441312.stm



Mikan, great pictures you found! Especially the night pictures are incredibly beautiful...
Have you noticed any ash yet? Seen or smelled anything?
The smell only lasted that evening yesterday. By night/early morning it was gone.... I hope there will be more.




Today on the news the health authorities warned people to stay indoors if it started raining/snowing visible ash. I just thought I'd pass that on to those who might live close enough to be affected.

I didn't notice anything here. But it was so nice to see a blue sky without any condensation trails.

Really interesting how an ash cloud from Iceland can affect our lives.
The media is of course making a big fuss about it... as if it was a nuclear cloud.

Oh, that's too bad. Well, it's still erupting, so...


It's a pretty big deal in the media here, too, and they fail to see the wonder in it. "Is it dangerous?" "When can we go on holiday?"
It just makes me wanna grab a microphone and say: "Hey, it's a volcano, people! How many of those do you think you'll get to experience in your lifetime? Enjoy it while it lasts!"


Some places in the western part and the lower northern part of Norway people say the air has had a smell like rotten eggs. That's not how it smelled here, but they're closer to it, so they'd get it in higher concentrations.



Lol, something funny: The glacier Eyjafjallajøkull, whose cold melted water is causing the volcano to be more violent in its eruption, is 1666 meters above the sea level. And here's what they've seen on the site recently!

http://www.youtube.com/user/klaengur1

I love conspiracy theories.

Some of my family are stranded abroad. This is fortunate as I'm enjoying how quiet the house is.
Thank you Eyjafjallajøkull.