News Flash from REYKJAVIK:  Monumental blasts of lava and ash are shooting out of a volcano in southern Iceland.

Eyjafjallajokull has been dormant for 200 years, give or take, but it’s really causing a stir lately.  The nearly unpronounceable volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, last erupted in 1821, with the fireworks lasting about 2 years, give or take a few months.

The first order of business would be to learn to pronounce the name of something that threatens to be hanging around for the next couple of years and making life inconvenient for many planet dwellers.  It’s a matter of pride.

Number of syllables is 7:  “Eyjafjallajokull” — “ay-yah-FYAH’-plah-yer-kuh-duhl.”   Follow this link to UTube for the multiple attempts to say it aloud.

Along with the explosive blasts, small tremors have been rocking the ground, tremors as in earthquakes.  This surge in activity raises fears of a larger explosion at the nearby Katla volcano.

History has proven that when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupts, Katla follows suit — the only question being when.

Mýrdalsjökull icecap. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.

Katla ia located under the massive Myrdalsjokull icecap, and an eruption would cause disastrous flooding.

Saturday’s eruption at Eyjafjallajokull forced at least 500 people to evacuate and the cancellation of many European flights.

The ash plume from Eyjafjallajokull volcano continues to drift across parts of Britain and Northern Europe. Gritty, abrasive micro particles from the erupting Icelandic volcano can severely damage aircraft engines. (see explanation below)

That’s why events all the way up in Iceland have been canceling airline flights across much of the continent. Follow the link to a UTube video of stranded passengers with no immediate hope of going anywhere in the sky.

The Ash plume, according to experts, is likely to drift further south and eastward, causing even more flight cancellations to and from Europe.

The volcanic ash cloud could make much of northern Europe a no-fly zone. This news has hurt the prices of airline stocks, paralyzed air cargo delivery and disrupted business and leisure travel. The disruption is reported to be costing airlines more than $200 million a day. Around 17,000 flights were expected to be canceled on Friday, with airspace closed across much of Europe.

Energy sectors have also been affected. Assuming an estimated 80 percent of Europe’s airports are shut for 48 hours, the disruption will cut 1.87 million barrels of demand. European oil, gas and electricity production, however, is not expected to suffer in the long run.

Follow this link to an animated plume show of Eyjafjallajokull, complements of the European Space Agency.

If you can get to Iceland, you can stand really close to the volcano.  The problems there are relatively slight–some mud flows, flooding and buckled roadways. To the east is where the problems lie—specifically Europe  You have to see the eruption from the top (space) to understand its significance.

The size of the no-fly airspace full of volcanic ash is massive with predictions of more space to be affected in the next few days:  Ash is now blowing into Sweden, Denmark and the Urals. It’s not the smoke that poses the danger. It’s the particles in the smoke.

Here’s some basic geology, folks.  Ash gets transformed into obsidian in airplane engines.  The jet engine is hot enough to melt the ash into teeny tiny pieces of obsidian which in turn grinds the jet engines to a halt.  There’s no way to know how long this ash filled airspace will be closed.

Two Years is how long Eyjafjallajokull erupted the last time!  No worries, folks,  the Union of Concerned Scientists has already met and declared the eruption too small to change the weather significantly.  We’re still moving towards global warming.  Here’s a question:  How many volcanoes would it take to reverse global warming?

Eyjafjallajokull from space!