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Iceland (11) -- News -- 2010
Ash cloud covered Europe
21.04.2010
A volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier began erupting Wednesday for the second time in less than a month, triggering flash floods
and sending smoke and steam up to five miles into the air.
The ash drifted south and east toward northern and central Europe.
The volcanic ash poses a threat to aircraft because it can affect visibility and can get sucked into airplane engines, causing them to shut down.
This was the reason for closing the airports in northern and central Europe.
Iceland (11) -- Analyses -- 2010
More about the volcano crisis
21.04.2010
Britain halted all flights in its space for first time in living memory.
France shut down 24 airports, including the main hub of Charles de Gaulle in Paris.
International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that the crisis caused by a volcanic ash cloud above Europe cost airlines revenues
of more than $1.7 billion by Tuesday.
"For an industry that lost $9.4 billion last year and was forecast to lose a further $2.8 billion in 2010, this crisis is devastating," IATA Director General
and Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement on Wednesday.
On the three days from April 17 to April 19, when the air traffic disruptions were the biggest, lost revenues reached $400 million per day, IATA said.
At its worst, the crisis affected 29 percent of global aviation and 1.2 million passengers a day.
By Wednesday morning, most of European airspace was open for business, but with so many planes having been grounded it could take days or weeks to clear the backlog.
"It is likely that the production of ash will continue at a comparable level for some days or weeks.
But where it disrupts travel, that depends on the weather," said Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
The
Iceland, a nation of 320,000 people, sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge, and has a history of devastating eruptions.
One of the worst was the 1783 eruption of the Laki volcano, which spewed a toxic cloud over Europe with devastating consequences.
At least 9,000 people, a quarter of the population of Iceland, died, many from the famine caused by the eruption, and many more emigrated.
The cloud may have killed more than 20,000 people in eastern England and an estimated 16,000 in France.
There was no sign of the ash at ground level in Britain on Thursday, and officials said it posed little risk to human health.
Weather forecasters said the most visible effect would likely be a spectacular red sunset.
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