Volcanoes! They're responsible for so many things, like pumice, the spontaneous combustion of Bobby Jindal's political career and that part of Disney's Fantasia right before everything gets terrifying. Some say the hellish orange sky in Edvard Munch's The Scream came courtesy of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. So what else can we blame on volcanoes?
EVEN THOUGH other volcanoes besides Iceland's Asdlfjasdfasdf; aren't blowing up, it doesn't mean they couldn't, report scientists, newspapers hungry for filler.
Yesterday's explosion of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in southern Iceland has resulted in a giant cloud of ash making its way across northern Europe's higher altitudes and closing down the airspace over the UK until tomorrow morning at the earliest; Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden have followed suit. Hoity-toity economists across the pond are idly wondering if this disruption is actually some sort of cosmic revenge for the UK's trade embargo against the financially strapped nation! Which conveniently ignores the ruinous floods that can occur as a result of the volcano melting glacial ice.
Say hello to Grimsvotn. It's the new Eyjafjallajokull!
I used to like volcanoes. What's not to like, I thought, right? Huge mountains that explode and spew fire and hot lava everywhere? Nothing if not totally exciting and fascinating. I enjoyed the volcanoes in Tarzan and King-Kong and Godzilla movies as a child. I did the requisite science project in third grade-papier-mache, rubber tubing, baking soda and vinegar, etc. Fun and educational, I thought. I learned how to play Eddie Van Halen's riff from "Eruption" on guitar and everything. Vesuvius, Etna, Krakatoa, Mount St. Helens, you name it: If it was a volcano, I thought it was pretty darn cool.
Well, not anymore. Now, I say: FUCK VOLCANOES!!!
Eyjafjallajökull! You all forgot about Eyjafjallajökull, didn't you? Well, guess what? It's not going out like that. "This image is from NASA's Terra satellite, and was taken on May 6. The border of Iceland is outlined, and you can see the ash plume carries on for hundreds of kilometers. Air travel is being grounded yet again." At least the death throes of the planet are providing us with some awesome imagery.
Wednesday's explosion of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, and the gigantic cloud of ash that it spawned, is still causing flights to and from many European countries to be canceled; one doomsaying volcanologist who clearly hasn't planned any transatlantic trips claims that fallout from the ash could affect travel "for weeks to even months." The Times has a handy chart of airports' status here, and while some airports have allowed a few flights through these cancellations are going to probably go on through the weekend. [Pic via]
