As you have probably seen on the news, all UK flights have been grounded by the Ash Cloud which is making its way across Northern Europe. But how and why?
The Eyjafjallajökull Volcano is a stratovolcano composed of ash and lava from previous eruptions. It is situated 5466ft above sea level, and had not erupted for over 190 years before its eruptions earlier this month, starting on March 20th.
The eruption was powerful enough to for a 2000ft fissure on the side of the volcano, which then released lava and created hills of rock called "Scoria". But why is it having so much of an affect?
The ash that is released is essentially small particles of rock, and if an aeroplane flies into it it could cause catastrophic damage to the engines which could then result in great danger for the aircraft. Therefore, all flights have been grounded to prevent this from happening (it last knowingly happened accidentally in 1982).
With the Ash Cloud reaching 55,000ft into the air, all necessary precautions have been taken. However, time will tell if this eruption has any long-term environmental affect. Some scientists fear that this eruption may "set off" another, larger eruption in the nearby in Mount Katla. This could create a vast volume of melt-water as it is situated in a glacier. this could then affect an even larger area that this one.
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