Eyjafjallajoekull ash plume and lightning

Eyjafjallajoekull ash plume and lightning Saturday 17 April 2010

Eyjafjallajoekull in southern Iceland erupted on 20 March 2010, with a second eruption starting under the center of small glacier on 14 April 2010. Neither eruption was unusually powerful. The second eruption melted a large amount of glacial ice which then cooled and fragmented lava into gritty glass particles that were carried up with the rising volcanic plume.

The dust cloud in the upper atmosphere drifted over northern Europe closing airspace for several days. Closure of airspace could last for weeks, months, years.

Gaia: Volcanoes effect climate, which in turn triggers volcanoes and earthquakes. Without volcanoes there would be no atmosphere. Ecosystems are dependent on the atmosphere. Without ecosystems there would be nothing to maintain the atmosphere. Mars has no molten core, no volcanoes. Mars has no atmosphere. Whether Mars has lifeforms is a moot point.

also see

UK airspace closed
Gaia strikes back
‘Tiny’ climate changes may trigger quakes
The Gaia Atlas of Planet Management

Gaia strikes back

clear blue sky, no contrails

‘Let’s delete the arrogant “save the planet” motto, and change to “educate the humans”.’ — Paulo Coelho

‘Save the planet? Planet must be saying, “Save yourself idiots, I will be fine”.’ — Paulo Coelho

‘Human destiny is bound to remain a gamble, as at some unpredictable time and in some unforeseeable manner nature will strike back.’ — Rene Dubos

Clear blue skies, no contrails. Peace and quiet.

We are in a privileged position. We are seeing the world as it will be in the near future when no planes fly. When we can hear bird song. We will arrive at this position either when fuel becomes prohibitively expensive or citizen groups occupy and shut down airports.

It would only take a couple of activists from Earth First! to seize the control tower, disable the equipment and shut down Farnborough Airport, a business airport near London. Business aviation with its low occupancy is one of the most obscene forms of transport.

Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases.

No planes fly. Gaia has spoken and shut down the airspace of northern Europe.

We have become overdependent on aviation, especially airfreight. Do we really need to import so-called fresh green beans from Kenya, all of uniform size? Even worse fresh flowers. Each day 500 tonnes of fresh flowers to Europe from Kenya alone. Land in Africa that should be growing food for local people, supplying local markets. The runoff is polluting local water supplies, lakes are shrinking, water tables falling.

Do we really need strawberries all year round? Nothing beats fresh English strawberries at the start of the season. It is only then that you know summer has arrived.

Airlines and airports are now calling for an end to flight restrictions. Profit must come before safety. Some are even calling for the public purse to bail out failing airlines!

Farnborough Airport simply ignores the no fly ban, putting passengers and crew and those on the ground at risk. Business as usual, profit before people and planet.

Eyjafjallajoekull has managed to achieve what no terrorist group has so far managed to achieve, the closure of UK and European airspace.

It is only in our arrogance that we think we can save the planet. Even worse is the hypocrisy of groups like Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network who are supporting the logging of old growth forests.

We may already be at a tipping point. What though we can do is protect old growth forests and other valuable ecosystems, stop the burning of coal, drastically reduce aviation and other fossil fuel forms of transport.

Volcanoes are essential to life. The earth has a molten core. Tectonic plates move around on the surface. Iceland straddles two tectonic plates, the North American and European plates. The volcanoes are on the fault line. Volcanoes provide earth with its atmosphere, the living systems help to maintain that atmosphere.

Mars has no molten core, no volcanoes, no atmosphere. Hence no life.

Gaia has spoken.

also see

‘Tiny’ climate changes may trigger quakes
UK airspace closed!
A world without planes
Iceland volcano: Kenya’s farmers losing $1.3 million a day in flights chaos
How the volcano took out our fruit salad
UK relies on ‘virtual’ water from drought-prone countries, says report
Farnborough Airport breaches no fly ban
Plan B 2.0
Funny Weather
The Gaia Atlas of Planet Management
The Revenge of Gaia

UK airspace closed!

Eyjafjallajoekull eruption NASA Terra Satellite at 1139 GMT Thursday 15 April 2010

1200 BST Thursday 15 April 2010 UK airspace was closed, all flights grounded. 0830 BST Friday 16 April 2010 the ban on flights was extended until 0100 BST Saturday 17 April 2010 with the likelihood of the ban being extended into the weekend.

Closure of UK airspace is unprecedented. The cause being the eruption of a volcano in Iceland which is spewing dust into the upper atmosphere. Were this dust to be ingested by jet engines it was would damage the engines.

Across northern Europe airspace has been closed and flights grounded. Which begs the question why a flight was allowed to take off from Farnborough Airport midmorning today (approximately 1030 BST)?

Never a pleasant experience at the best of times, passengers at airports have been subjected to indefinite delay.

For people living in close proximity to an airport it has been unexpected peace and quiet. Bliss.

The closure of UK airspace has served to highlight how dependent the UK has become on aviation, in particular airfreight, especially so-called fresh fruit and vegetables, for example green beans from Kenya.

The Eyjafjallajoekull eruption was the second in Iceland in less than a month.

see

Iceland volcano: UK flights grounded for second day