AccuWeather.com reports aIn light of the recent Icelandic volcano eruption that is responsible for one of the most costly and widespread aviation crises on record, how was this volcano able to cause such a travel nightmare?
Eyjafjallajokull's ash plume stalled aviation over Europe for more than five days because of the interaction between ice and lava during the eruption, as well as the lava composition, which is unique and influenced by the country's glacial nature.
Eyjafjnallajokull is a subglacial volcano, meaning the eruption occurs beneath the surface of an ice sheet. The heat of the lava from these volcanoes has the power to melt overlying ice, making lava flow much more easily.
"The eruption did migrate to be subglacial, and that interaction with the glacial ice has been more explosive through fragmentation of the lavas," explained Peter La Femina, Associate Professor of Geosciences at the Pennsylvania State University.
The volcano erupted in separate phases, with the first relatively calm phase taking place on March 20.
However, the eruptions within the second phase occurring on April 12 were much more violent and spewed out a much different type of lava than the previous phase did.
This dramatic change in eruption was possible because volcanoes emit lava of different consistencies, but predicting what type of consistency will result from an eruption is difficult.
The interaction between the lava and the surrounding ice gives off steam, which propels ash more explosively than the slow-moving, shallow eruptions as exhibited by Hawaiian volcanoes.
Steam-powered explosions can propel ash thousands of feet into the Earth's atmosphere, and in Eyjafjallajokull's case, ash clouds were spewed up to 30,000 feet into the air.
These powerful steam-powered eruptions shatter the magma into very fine ash, and those ash particles are easily dispersed both upwards and outwards in the atmosphere and can remain airborne for long periods of time.
The atmospheric winds also enabled ash dispersion, carrying the fine particles from Eyjafjallajokull and extending across much of Europe.
However, La Femina said it is very difficult to predict ash dispersion levels after individual eruptions.
The uncertainty of the direction of the ash plume combined with the dangerous nature of ash itself were contributing factors to the closure of European airspace.
"When you have a volcanic eruption, especially when it's so highly explosive, you're fragmenting the lava down to individual glass shards," explained La Femina.
The problem arises when the particulate material interacts with modern jet engines.
"The temperatures within the jets can actually melt that glass and fuse it to the turbines," he said. "It basically causes the engines to stall."
Although eruptions are easier to forecast through the use of seismic equipment, it is inaccurate to assume the concentration of lava spewing from a volcano will be of a particular consistency.
Ultimately, scientists cannot predict whether or not the same very fine ash will continue to spew from Eyjafjallajokull, or if only a steam cloud including no particulate matter and no risk to aviation will erupt.
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