Flight and travel fears: Why Iceland's Reykjanes volcano eruption won't cause disruption
The Reykjanes eruption is unlikely to lead to the same disruption caused by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010. The earlier explosion led to ash particles being pushed up into the atmosphere and spread across Western Europe. The incident grounded planes for several weeks because of concerns that the particles would damage jet engines, making air travel unsafe. This won't happen now. The 2010 eruption occurred under a glacier, which is not the case this time. Prof Matthew Watson, Professor of Volcanoes and Climate at the University of Bristol, said "it is unlikely, but not impossible'' that there may be some impact on air travel. ''This type of eruption doesn't generally produce much ash, which is what tends to ground planes,'' he said. The Eyjafjallajökull eruption led to large amounts of water interacting with molten rock causing an explosive reaction - like water being put into a chip pan, but immensely more powerful. The explosions of 2010 le...