From Iceland — Ashfall Thinning, Reaching Europe

Ashfall Thinning, Reaching Europe

Published May 23, 2011

Ashfall is reaching Europe, although it appears to be thinning out. Icelandair will resume all flights this evening.
Saturday evening’s eruption caused considerable ashfall throughout the south and southeast of Iceland over the weekend. Data from the Met Office in Britain shows ashfall reaching the UK, as well as west-central Russia. However, the plume of the volcano reached a maximum height of about 20 kilometres before falling to 15 km Saturday night and 10 km the following day. It is now between 6 and 10 km.
Icelandair is expecting to resume all flights by 18:00 GMT, and Iceland Express is opening flights as well.
Air quality conditions in the capital area are still above safe levels, so people are advised to limit their amount of time outdoors. However, The Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management says that ashfall in the capital is thinning, and the Icelandic Meteorological Office predicts ashfall to thin out in the south and southeast this afternoon.
The Grapevine advises all its readers waiting on flights to follow the aforementioned links to their airlines, and to check out the regular updates on Iceland.is.
For the simply curious, take a look at Maroesjka Lavigne’s stunning photos of the eruption area.

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