Another volcanic eruption has shut down airspace around Iceland and is threatening to disrupt travel across Europe
Another volcanic eruption has shut down airspace around Iceland and is threatening to disrupt travel across Europe in the coming days.
The eruption at Grimsvotn was much stronger than the Eyjafjoell eruption further south that shut down the airspace across Europe in April last year and disrupted the travel plans of millions of passengers.
Air safety officials said ash from the latest eruption may reach north Scotland by Tuesday before sweeping across Britain to hit France and Spain two days later.
Experts say, however, the impact should not be as far-reaching as in 2010.
The latest eruption started with some small earthquakes around the glacier at the foot of Iceland's most active volcano.
What happened next was the biggest eruption at the site since 1873.
But so far its effects are only being felt at home, with all flights in and out of Iceland's main Keflavik airport cancelled.
The plume of ash shot 20 kilometres into the sky, turning day into night and blanketing many surrounding towns and villages.
Ash coated cars and buildings, while residents are being urged to wear masks and stay indoors.
While it is still too early to be certain and winds are currently mild, meteorologists in Europe are hopeful that the travel disruption can be contained to Iceland.
BBC forecaster Simon King says it may not be until later in the week that the UK experiences any disturbances from the eruption.
"Assuming the volcano continues to erupt at the same pace and the same concentration as it is now and if we look at the upper-level winds, it's towards the end of the week where we'll start to see if there could be a problem or not for the UK," he said.
Last year's eruption closed Heathrow and virtually every other northern European airport for six days, throwing the travel plans of around 10 million people in to chaos.
It was estimated airlines lost around $200 million a day.
But experts say the eruption at Grimsvotn is unlikely to have such a dramatic impact this time.
Professor Hazel Rymer is a vulcanologist at the UK's Open University and says the situation is a lot different this time around.
She says the volcano is erupting a different type of ash.
"For a start what's different this year is this particular volcano is erupting slightly different ash. It's rather denser. The slightly larger particles are mainly what's coming out," she said.
"That means they're going to fall out quicker. They're going to fall out perhaps before they get into European airspace.
"[The] second thing is the weather is a little bit different at the moment. Principally the plume is going over towards the east. So it's not coming down into our airspace at the moment, although of course this may change."
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