The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull is located about 75 miles east of Reykjavik and which began erupting on 20 March this year, has caused chaos at UK airports as a massive plume of ash was blown across northern Britain.

Professor Stephen Mobbs, Director of NERC's National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), and Dr Susan Loughlin, Head of Volcanology at the British Geological Survey (BGS), are part of a scientific delegation that travelled to Iceland to discuss collaborative work on the impacts of the volcanic eruption. The pair has also been appointed to scientific and operational advisory groups set up by the UK government to deal with this and future environmental emergencies.

NCAS scientists are still working closely with the Civil Aviation Authority and the Met Office to monitor and model the ash plume from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano using the 2 NERC research aircraft and computer models.

Timeline of events up to the 20th May 2010.

FAAM BAe 146 Flights

Since the first eruption, the Cranfield-based Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements has worked around the clock to bring another research aircraft out of refit specifically to help sample the plume. This is a modified BAe 146 large atmospheric research aircraft, that can reach higher altitudes than the other NERC aircraft - the smaller ARSF Dornier. The BAe 146 is fitted with a LIDAR instrument that will help scientists map the ash plume from above. By flying the Dornier below the plume and the BAe 146 above it, the research team hopes to map its full extent and confirm the nature of the ash cloud.


NERC's National Centre for Atmospheric Sciences (NCAS) is also modeling the dispersion and movement of the volcanic plume. Professor Stephen Mobbs, Director of NCAS, said, 'NCAS scientists use the NOAA HYSPLIT model to track the dispersion of the volcanic plume. This tracks the trajectories of atmospheric pollutants from sources using the observed wind fields as interpreted by global weather forecasting models’.

'This eruption on Eyjafjallajökull began on the north-east flank where there is no ice and it was very small. The volcano is now erupting from the central crater which is under the ice cap. It is melting the ice, causing significant flooding around the volcano.'
The interaction of magma with water has created a plume of volcanic ash and gas over 10 km high, which has spread out and been carried by winds eastwards towards the Faroe Islands, Norway, and northern Scotland.

The ash plume contains large amounts of microscopic particles of hard volcanic rock which, although it does not show up on weather radar, can have serious affects on aircraft flying through it. The Dornier 228 is able to fly where commercial airlines cannot, due to its ability to 'see' the volcanic plume via the research instruments on board.

Dr Guy Gratton, Head of FAAM, explains: 'Because the ash is electrically conductive, it can cause thunder and lightning, or cause St Elmo's Fire - an effect where metal parts of the aircraft start to glow. The airspeed indicator - which is essential for safe flight - can be adversely affected making control of the aircraft very difficult. Dust is also likely to enter the aircraft causing sulphurous smells and haze.'

Guy goes on to say, 'As they touch the aircraft, and particularly the engines, the hard rock particles can wear away the aircraft skin, windscreens, and engine components. At the high temperatures inside a jet engine the particles can potentially block fuel nozzles or even melt and then solidify in other parts of the engine causing mishandling or engine stoppage (called a "flame-out").
Satellite image of the erupting volcano in Iceland, taken by NASA's Terra satellite at 11.39UTC, 15 April 2010, and prepared from data received at the NERC-funded Satellite Receiving Station in Dundee.'

Peter Purcell, Head of NERC Airborne Research Facilities, said, 'The Dornier 228 is an extremely adaptable and capable aircraft. The highly professional crew was able to reconfigure the aircraft at very short notice to undertake this mission. The instrumentation will allow the crew to safely monitor the atmospheric conditions as the plume is approached.'

NERC's Airborne Research & Survey Facility Dornier 228 research aircraft took off from Cranfield airfield at 14:00 UK time on Sunday 18 April 2010. After takeoff, the Dornier flew south via London, Southampton and Cardiff, and then north to Prestwick before returning to Cranfield.

To sample different layers of the plume, the aircraft flew a climbing and descending pattern at heights between 6,000 feet and 20,000 feet between Cranfield, London, Southampton and and Cardiff. During the Cardiff to Prestwick leg of the mission, it climbed and descended between 1,500 and 20,000 feet.