News

Iceland volcano eruption update by UK and Icelandic Met Office - 21 May

Saturday 22, May 2010

EyjafjallajÃ¶kull volcano is continuing to erupt, with the ash plume reaching heights of up to around 14,000 ft. From Sunday the ash cloud is expected to drift in a south-westerly direction over the Atlantic Ocean and UK airspace is not expected to be affected.

Observation from inspection flight and other pilot reports show that the eruption plume is light grey, with a small amount of ash and the height is 3-3.5 km/10,000-12,000ft. (ASL) Plume is blown towards northeast and later northwest by light southerly winds.

No reports of ashfall today. Reports from Neðri-Þverá and Hlíðarendakot in Fljótshlíð of bluish gas in Fljótsdalur and along the hillsides in some sort of clouds, smelling of rot (causing people headaches when dark in colour).

Volcanic tremor levels have decreased since yesterday evening. However, they rose for two hours yesterday morning, but have since continued to decrease. Over twenty earthquakes have been recorded since midnight, the majority at shallow depths.

The eruption has declined a great deal and the flow of magma into the crater can be roughly estimated as 5 tonnes/s, carried away by a plume that rises 1.5-2 km above the creater. No lava flowing.

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