Grímsvötn: Particulate measurements

While @eurocontrol has the latest on the airport closures (not likely) and flight cancellations, I was pointed to the Icelandic Meteorological Office and Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland for data on the plume source: i.e. what type of volcano ashes are we facing: From the latest document:

Tephra fallout: The amount of fallout is great from Vík in the west to the east of Öræfajökull. The amount of ash fall is the greatest close to the village Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Ash has been detected in several areas throughout the country, except in the northwest.

A sample from Kirkjubæjarklaustur has been analyzed, which was taken around 1h on 22 May. The grains are glassy with micro crystals of plagioclase. Samples well sorted.

Whole rock analysis: Basalt, with 50-51 Wt% SiO2

Leachate results: 5-10 mg/kg of waterdissolvable flour

Grain size distribution: about 10% of the volume of the analyzed samples is finer than 10 micrometer

The Icelandic Met office is here. Updates on the conditions are here.

The London VAAC advisories are here.

Grímsvötn Ash Cloud

And so it starts again, about a year after Eyjafjallajökull The Grímsvötn volcano in Iceland has started erupting and has yielded a large ash cloud. You can follow the situation on its wikipedia page here. As of this writing the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in charge of evaluating the plume (in the UK) of this cloud does not seem to show that Europe might be affected before Tuesday. The Toulouse VAAC points back to the London VAAC for the moment.

If you follow Twitter, you want to follow the account of Eurocontrol or the following Ashtags: #Grimsvotn, #ashcloud #ashtag #iceland