I'm supposed to be in Iceland in two months. I note that the last time this particuar volcan erupted, it went on for a year . . . Maybe I should reschedule.

--Greg

The lack of contrails overhead is quite striking. And no aircraft noise, either

Grrr.... we've had days and days of clear / pretty clear evening skies, and now, of course, with a possible volcanic sunset to enjoy, the cloud is as thick as Ready Brek! Curses! My plan to trek up to the castle and photograph the sunset with my new camera, whilst listening to tonight's Big TV Event, before heading back down into Kendal to attend the "Pie and peas supper" following Stella's drama group's 2nd night performance of G&S's "The Sorcerer" looks like being cruelly thwarted...

I have the chance of having planned to get back to Italy for the end of next week, not this one!!

A rather attractive image of the Eyjafjallajoekull ash plume courtesy of NEODASS/U. Dundee/NASA

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/8623301.stm

I'm in contact with guys located at the North of France and they are both seeing ashfall ! It's not heavy, very light and soft, but they can see it. And they said that the ambiant is very special, with a strange "cold ash" smell.

Sky cleared at 8.30pm! Raced to the castle, and I think... maybe... perhaps... the first photo in this blog post here shows a hint of volcanic colouration in the sunset...?

http://cumbriansky.wordpress.com/2010/04/1...nings-observing

Even if it doesn't, it was a fantastic evening...!

Think you did get a hint of volcanic effects there, Stu; very nice pics! From what I remember after St. Helens, sunsets were generally redder & lasted longer due to more high-alt backscatter after the Sun went below the local horizon; never saw anything really more dramatic than that.

>>I'm supposed to be in Iceland in two months. * * * Maybe I should reschedule.

And miss the chance to visit an active volcano? If you're taking a tour with geologist guides, I would hope that they would be able to improvise something memorable. Although I suppose not all active volcanoes are suitable for tourists ...

TTT (edit: jealous of your trip whenever you take it)

...at least there were some advantages of this ash cloud...

WOW... more than a "hint" in those shots, remcook!

Confirm : same color as seen in the right pic yesterday evening in Paris. Now CDG Airport closed as well...

At this time it's impossible to tell what the sitation is going to be in two months but the amount of ash usually gets less as time passes. The really bad thing now is that the wind direction is extremely unfavourable for aviation - it probably couldn't have been worse. The eruption itself isn't all that big even though the effects are great due to its location (aviation and the evacuation of large areas because it's subglacial and therefore causes floods).

It's no longer overcast around the eruption site; the plume is now visible from the ground. This is the plume a few minutes ago. This is from a webcamera located approximately 35 kilometers from the eruption. Lots of ash here:

Here are some pics from this evening - North Cambridgeshire, not sure if they are regular clouds or not, the sky was totaly cloud free apart from these. May send them to spaceweather.com and see what they asy.