Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 07:56pm on 19 Dec 2023,Tuesday Weather & Environment
The Reykjanes eruption is "unlikely, but not impossible" to impact air travel like the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcano that grounded planes for weeks, said Prof Matthew Watson, Professor of Volcanoes and Climate at the University of Bristol. "This type of eruption doesn't generally produce much ash, which is what tends to ground planes," he said. Unlike in 2010 when an eruption under a glacier caused explosive reactions with water that turned molten rock into harmful ash, volcanologist Dr Sam Mitchell of Bristol University said "The volcano is not erupting explosively with water. So people should not worry about the airspace over Europe because the current eruption is nothing like what happened with Eyjafjallajökull." The greatest risk locally is from volcanic fumes which are uncomfortable, especially to those with respiratory problems.
