Ash from Eyjafjallajökull Volcano continues to fill the sky over Iceland, but shifting winds are blowing the plume away from densely populated areas of Europe. The Icelandic Met Office reported that the ash plume rose to an altitude of 7 kilometers (21,000 feet), spreading northeast, with emissions of 200 metric tons (440,000 pounds) of ash per second. According to Eurocontrol the airspace over Europe was open, and ash was unlikely to affect flights until May 20, 2010.
This natural-color satellite image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard NASA’s Terra satellite on May 18, 2010, at 12:20 p.m. local time. The pale gray ash plume blows from the summit of Eyjafjallajökull almost directly northeast, towards the northern Icelandic coast and out over the dark blue Atlantic Ocean. White clouds cover much of the rest of the scene.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Robert Simmon.
