Posted on 04/15/2010 5:36:43 AM PDT by AngieGal
British civil aviation authorities ordered the closure of the country’s airspace as of noon on Thursday to shield aircraft from a high-altitude cloud of ash drifting south and east from an erupting volcano in Iceland. The plume shut down airports and forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights in a wide arc from Ireland to Scandinavia.
The closures left airplanes on the tarmac as the rolling cloud — made up of minute particles of silicate that can damage airplane engines — headed from Britain and Scandinavia toward northern Europe. News reports said Denmark and Sweden also had restricted air travel.
“From midday today until at least 6 p.m., there will be no flights permitted in U.K. controlled airspace other than emergency situations,” Britain’s National Air Traffic Service said in a statementon its Web site. “This has been applied in accordance with international civil aviation policy.”
The move effectively grounded all flights in Britain from 11:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (7:00 a.m. Eastern) and affected an estimated 6,000 flights that use British airspace every day, aviation experts said. Oddly, for travelers, the closure was announced under clear blue skies. Experts had said earlier that the ash may not be visible from the ground but can clog airplane engines.
The impact was likely to be among the most severe in many years, cutting transatlantic links and severing air routes across northern Europe.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I guess we think alike.
No, the warming from the volcanic eruption releases the ash which cools temperature. Global Warming causes Global Cooling. Thus speaks Gore.
Doesn’t Iceland use geothermal energy for their power? If so, this could be their fault for not using enough electricity. (Throw away those florescent light bulbs!)
Let the fun begin. "
Yes, Iceland must be fined for their failure to control this volcano due to a lack of proper carbon & environmental legislation and an inadequate VAT.
The plume is headed north, not south/southest into England.
Red flag up ...
Natural global warming causes ice sheet to thin.
Decreased weight of ice sheet allows volcano to erupt
Volcanic ash cools the earth stopping global warming
Hmmmmm, looks like a self correcting system to me.
(All facetious of course)
*eyes heavenward* Why now, Lord??
We were supposed to go to Europe and cancelled our trip on Monday because we had an ominous feeling about it. Maybe this is why.
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