Tag Archives: Eyjafjallajokull

Natural Disasters

Volcanic lightning on display in Iceland

Leave a comment
The Chaitén volcano erupting in Chile in 2008. (Carlos Gutierrez)
The Chaitén volcano erupting in Chile in 2008. (Carlos Gutierrez)

The images are nothing less than astounding – so unreal appearing in fact that the reaction of many people is to conclude they are fake. However, volcano-induced lightning is a very real phenomenon and one that is not well understood.

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland erupted last month and that event was followed by a larger eruption on Wednesday, April 14th. While not a big eruption by most standards, volcano-induced lightning was once again photographed.

Images of the light show put on by Eyjafjallajokull were taken by many photographers including the Associated Press as well as astronomer and volcano expert Marco Fulle. Fulle’s images – click here to view them – show lightning shooting from the ash plume as the stars pass overhead in an amazing display of nature’s fury.

In May of 2008 the Chaitén volcano in Chile erupted for the first time in more than 9,000 years. In an impressive explosive eruption, nighttime images taken by Carlos Gutierrez displayed lightning shooting from the rising plume of ash, smoke and steam. So incredible were the images that many believed they were digitally manipulated even prompting myth-busting website Snopes to issue a story explaining that they were real.

Because of copyright protections we cannot display all of the images of volcano-induced lightning here but we encourage you to head over to the Natural Disasters Examiner to check them out.  They are truly amazing.

Natural Disasters

Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano disrupts travel across the globe

Leave a comment
Taken Wednesday, April 14, 2010, this image from the Icelandic Coastguard shows smoke and steam rising from the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland, which erupted for the second time in less than a month, melting ice, shooting smoke and steam into the air and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters. (Icelandic Coastguard)
Taken Wednesday, April 14, 2010, this image from the Icelandic Coastguard shows smoke and steam rising from the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland, which erupted for the second time in less than a month, melting ice, shooting smoke and steam into the air and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters. (Icelandic Coastguard)

With no signs of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland stopping its latest eruption, international flights to and from Europe at Denver International Airport were cancelled for the second day in a row in Friday. The ash plume from the volcano has cancelled thousands of flights worldwide and stranded tens of thousands of passengers.

Travelers through Denver expect the weather to cause problems but rarely would they think a volcano more than 3,500 miles away would cancel their travel plans.

Both United Airlines and British Airways canceled their non-stop service to and from London Thursday and Friday and it now appears Saturday’s flights will be cancelled as well.  London’s Heathrow Airport is reporting that it will remain closed until at least 1:00am (local time) on Sunday.

As the ash cloud has spread, so too have its effects. The European air traffic control agency, Eurocontrol, said that flights have also been grounded in France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Belgium.

Volcanic ash presents a very real danger not only those close to an eruption but also to airplanes flying anywhere in the vicinity. The ash from volcanoes can travel hundreds of miles and when ingested by jet aircraft engines, can result in a total loss of power.

KLM Flight 867, a 747 bound for Anchorage, Alaska in December 1989 inadvertently flew into ash that had been discharged by Mount Redoubt. All four engines lost power for give minutes and the aircraft fell from 27,900 feet to 13,300 feet before it was able to restart its engines.

In 1982 a British Airways 747 flew through the ash cloud of an erupting Mount Galunggung in Indonesia. All four engines on the aircraft lost power but were able to be restarted after the aircraft exited the cloud.

More information on the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption from the Natural Disasters Examiner: