British airspace re-opens
Thursday May 6, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The volcano ash cloud began drifting over Northern Europe from the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland at the beginning of the week.

It has now moved away to the west of the UK and it has been decided that it is no longer a threat for the time being.

"The no-fly zone imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) tracking the high density area of the volcanic ash cloud, has moved west overnight and has now cleared UK airspace," says a statement from the National Air Traffic Services.

"We continue to maintain close dialogue with the Met Office and with the CAA, which is responsible for imposing no-fly zones."

Scientists are tracking the cloud's movements constantly but its location changes frequently, depending on the strength of eruptions and prevailing winds.

When the ash level exceeds that agreed as safe by the industry flights are restricted accordingly.

Passengers are advised to check with their airlines before setting off to the airport.

"Ash is likely to continue to disrupt UK air travel for the foreseeable future and our advice to passengers is to listen to updates and contact their airline before leaving home if they are concerned their travel plans may be affected. The CAA is continuing to lead international efforts to develop more detailed scientific understanding of the situation to minimise disruption without compromising passenger safety,” says the chief executive of the CAA, Andrew Haines.

Last month it closed down much of European airspace for 6 days and affected 10m passengers including many skiers and snowboarders returning from their Easter holidays.

We reported on how it affected them here.

Scotland once again affectedThe cloud of ash affected some Scottish airspace on Tuesday with hundreds of flights cancelled.

Skiing in Scotland is largely finished but it continues at Cairngorm.

The Eyjafjallajökull is still erupting and pushing steam and volcanic debris high into the atmosphere. Its glacier is melting and huge mud slides are occuring.

See this PlanetSKI story with some fascinating video of its impact.

There seems to be even more ash spewing from the volcano, and it shows little sign of abating.

We have a time-lapse animation of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupting in Iceland below.

It was created on Tuesday, May 4th.

The dark smoke plume is the ash ejected by the eruption.

The white plume in the forground is steam created by lava melting the glacier. 

Scientists are also concerned that the increased seismic activity combined with the current volcanic eruption may also cause the Katla volcano to erupt.

Katla has the reputation of being one of the most volatile volcanoes in Iceland.

There are growing concerns that when Katla erupts the volcanic debris will be enormous and may cause even greater flight disruptions.

If you are new to PlanetSKI and have found us via a search engine don't forget to look round other areas of the site. If you are a skier or snowboarder we reckon you'll be pleasantly surprised.

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