How Katla Erupting could change Ireland's climate

Graces7

I think that a part of all this is that because of the volcano many are more aware of the weather etc than usual?

Last week, before this hit, I was to Buncrana and there had been a report her re a fire there; and there was a dark haze over all there that cleared as we neared it.

And y'day, driving round lanes near Rossnowlagh, saw how arid the landscape still is;; actually for a moment thought that some fields opposite had been cleared for building etc.

After the winter we are all more aware?

Sponge Bob

Back to Katla then.

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/gosplott.html

Seismic activity ....the spike on the left is Enya going off

nacho libre

snow ghost wrote: »

Btw, tisn't no forest fires... that's Nachos fire defences to keep ye out! :pac:

yes snow ghost you the score. when the endtime approaches, as it surely soon will, they'll all be flocking to the greatest county in Ireland. i don't believe in the concept of heaven and hell when you die. as the saying goes "hell is other people" so with that in mind i do not want to spend my last moments on Earth with Galwegians. i'm sure you can relate to what i'm saying:D

Sponge Bob

nacho libre wrote: »

with that in mind i do not want to spend my last moments on Earth with Galwegians. i'm sure you can relate to what i'm saying:D

Thats grand, send us the GPS co ordinates so we know where to dump the ash we scrape off

Iancar29

This i my favourite picture of Etjafjallajokull to date by far!


ITs like Zeus and Hades are having a full on battle with each other! ..... I GOT 10-2 on Zeus ! ha

mike65

Epic shot.

Deep Easterly

snow ghost wrote: »

Didn't know that about the bog / forest fires! Bloody radio i102 tells you nothing!!!! :mad: This haze was around Doo Lough, Sheefry hills and Maam Turks, so not sure it was from fires?

Check this pic out, you may just be able to make out the slight browny colour of the haze I saw over the mountains compared to the top of the pic. Haze is nothing unusual over the mountains and at Doo Lough but it is usually bluey-grey, this had a distinct organgey tinge to it. UK Met Office said the ash clouds had been observed from ground level in England yesterday, so I'm convinced it was something to do with the Volcano. Could be wrong though!

If it is ash in the atmosphere who knows what we are inhaling... it's enough to make me want to give up smoking. :eek:

.

That's a stunning shot Snow . You are lucky to be living near such grandeur. Yes, certainly some nice mellow haze apparent there; could well be traces of volcanic dust causing that effect. Having said that, any sort of super dry anticyclonic flow, a phenomena exclusive to a high situated to the north of us, tends to bring that sort of sky also with haze being visible at mid to high levels. The next time we have a real deep easterly (:D) flow from the continent you will notice the dry haze being down to surface level also, which can be very thick and reducing visibility markedly, but very often this can cause some really stunning visual effects like stunning sky scapes and sun rises and sunsets etc. Even the most boring looking clouds can take on a new beautiful form (if the haze is not thick enough to make them virtually invisible)

When dry haze becomes that dense it can be a sign of thunder too in summer, depending on how unstable the airflow is. The airflow over the next couple of days looks like will have have passed over the very near continent so it might bring up some more of that dry haze over us, although I am not totally sure of this. Even today, there is a mellowness in the sky from trace haze making it seem less harsh and blinding. Love it, my type of sky!!

snow ghost

Deep Easterly wrote: »

That's a stunning shot Snow . You are lucky to be living near such grandeur. Yes, certainly some nice mellow haze apparent there; could well be traces of volcanic dust causing that effect. Having said that, any sort of super dry anticyclonic flow, a phenomena exclusive to a high situated to the north of us, tends to bring that sort of sky also with haze being visible at mid to high levels. The next time we have a real deep easterly (:D) flow from the continent you will notice the dry haze being down to surface level also, which can be very thick and reducing visibility markedly, but very often this can cause some really stunning visual effects like stunning sky scapes and sun rises and sunsets etc. Even the most boring looking clouds can take on a new beautiful form (if the haze is not thick enough to make them virtually invisible)

When dry haze becomes that dense it can be a sign of thunder too in summer, depending on how unstable the airflow is. The airflow over the next couple of days looks like will have have passed over the very near continent so it might bring up some more of that dry haze over us, although I am not totally sure of this. Even today, there is a mellowness in the sky from trace haze making it seem less harsh and blinding. Love it, my type of sky!!

Thanks for the explanation Deep!

You're not too far from the grandeur yourself there... I have to say I think South Mayo and North Galway has the best scenery in Ireland. Obviously, I'm biased, but anyone down the West coast is blessed. It can become banal, but in truth Ireland has some of the best landscapes - and in my opinion - interesting weather, in the World.

snow ghost

Nacho, you might have to allow a couple of Galwegians into the bunker... as evidence for future generations that such creatures did actually exist! :pac::pac::pac:

snow ghost

Iancar29 wrote: »

This i my favourite picture of Etjafjallajokull to date by far!


ITs like Zeus and Hades are having a full on battle with each other! ..... I GOT 10-2 on Zeus ! ha

Iancar, amazing pic there... seeing that in the flesh would be enough to convince anyone that the crack of doom had opened and the end was nigh! :eek:

Guinness69

Luke Howard was born in London November 28, 1772, the first child of Robert and Elizabeth Howard. Robert was a successful businessman and a staunch Quaker. When it came time to begin school, his father sent him to a large Friends' grammar school at Burford, near Oxford. The school was run by a scholarly Friend, Mr. Huntley, and it was here that Luke spent the next seven years. Mr. Huntley was fatherly, kind and of the Old School, which was to flog those who could not learn fast enough and leave the others much to themselves. Luke commented many years later that he acquired more Latin than he had been able to forget. Little did he know that in 20 years that knowledge of Latin would stand him in good stead in a way he could not have imagined?

We know relatively little about this portion of his life. Presumably he returned home only once a year, at summer holidays. But whether he was at home or at school it is quite clear that he was raised in an atmosphere of Christian love as interpreted in the Quaker tradition.

What follows is the reconstructed, but not fictionalized, story of events in Nature that shaped a life:

An eleven-year-old boy stands alone on a hill overlooking the Windrush River in Oxfordshire. Only by straining his eyes can he make out the hills on the other side of the valley. The day has been hazy, as indeed, it had been week after week during the early summer. The sun, hanging low in the sky, continues to show the same eerie, coppery cast it had even at midday. And now it is late in the day.

As the sun sinks lower and lower into the thick haze, the disc reddens even more, darkens and disappears below the horizon. Then, instead of the twilight darkness, the western sky starts to brighten showing a remarkable array of colors. Directly above the point where the sun disappeared, the haze starts to take on a green opalescent hue, topped by a region that is nearly white. On either side there is a greenish yellow glow. Still higher in the sky, extending midway to the zenith, is a most delicately colored open fan of pink, surrounded on either side by the deepest of blue.

The boy stands entranced, scarcely breathing, as this panorama develops to full splendor before his gaze. Slowly brighter hues give way to those less bright, and finally to the dusk. At long last he rouses from the magic of the spectacle and slowly makes his way back to his lodgings.

1783 was a year in which Nature was in a state of extreme agitation and turmoil. Late in May, early in June and still again in mid June violent volcanic eruptions took place in Iceland. As the activity continued during the remainder of the year, the greatest lava flow in historic times spewed forth. Great volumes of volcanic dust from the Eldeyjar eruption fell over Iceland and, carried by the westerly windstreams, spread over Scotland, destroying crops. The dust cloud moved onward over Europe spreading a dirty blanket from which there was no escape. First reported in Copenhagen on 29 May, and in France on 6 June, the cloud moved forward. By July 1st it stretched to North Africa covering all of Great Britain and continental Europe!

Before the effects of the Icelandic eruptions had time to disappear, another violent eruption took place; this time on the other side of the world in Japan. Early in August, volcano Asama Yama produced what has been described as "the most frightful eruption on record to date" hurling out rocks as large as houses, burying towns and villages, and spewing great quantities of dust into the upper atmosphere, where westerly winds carried the dust around the whole Northern Hemisphere, adding to the general pall of haze. All the weather diaries of that period, and even some of the great literary works of the day, contain vivid references to the extended period of the Great Fogg (which was not fog in the usual sense but referred to the cloud of volcanic dust), and to the unusual appearances of the sky, including the fantastic array of colors at sunset and the rayless sun. The sense of underlying uneasiness was heightened by major earth shakings in Calabria and Sicily. It was stimulated by an amazingly bright and fiery meteor that flashed across the skies of western Europe in the early evening hours of 18 August, and was seen by tens of thousands, including our eleven year old boy. And the shimmerings of the aurora borealis added to the "general mysterium".

Yes, 1783 was a most remarkable year!

38 years later this same Luke Howard received the highest award of the young scientific community for his services to the infant science of meteorology. We believe that there is a causal line of connection between receipt of this honor and the Year to Remember. Luke remembered This Year and was deeply impressed by the events that occurred therein. Because of what took place in 1783 and the way in which Luke reacted to it, some indefinable chord in his inner being was set into resonance; some initial momentum was established that led directly to the 1821 honor.

The capture of Luke Howard's boyhood imagination was so complete that meteorology continued as his primary avocation, even though his vocation took other turns. His interest in weather never waned during his long lifetime. This lifetime devotion and his many contributions to the science of meteorology make him one of its real pioneers.

Deep Easterly

snow ghost wrote: »

Thanks for the explanation Deep!

You're not too far from the grandeur yourself there... I have to say I think South Mayo and North Galway has the best scenery in Ireland. Obviously, I'm biased, but anyone down the West coast is blessed. It can become banal, but in truth Ireland has some of the best landscapes - and in my opinion - interesting weather, in the World.

Very true Snow, although the South Mayo/North Galway region is a bit flat and boring compared to most other places along the west coast but it has its own beauty all the same; such as the great and expansive panoramic views of the sky and landscape on all 4 horizons and all that. We have a "mountain" here which is located around 4/5 miles southwest of Tuam called Castlehackett or Knockma, which peaks at a majestic 140m asl and sticks out like a sore thumb, but it is a mighty site. If you stand on top of it, (and on a fine clear day) you can see almost the whole of Connacht right up to the north coast of Mayo, as well as the entire Galway Bay region down to Clare, and even the mountains of Tipp. Abbeyknockmoy is another hill to the southeast with has some mighty views from the top, which I think peaks around 170m, although it is more of a gradual climb than Castlehackett.

Graces7

snow ghost wrote: »

Thanks for the explanation Deep!

You're not too far from the grandeur yourself there... I have to say I think South Mayo and North Galway has the best scenery in Ireland. Obviously, I'm biased, but anyone down the West coast is blessed. It can become banal, but in truth Ireland has some of the best landscapes - and in my opinion - interesting weather, in the World.

l

Mayo and Galway are indeed lovely; but just as lovely are some of the lesser known roads in Donegal.

We take folk over to Glenveagh, for example. And across to Falcarragh.

Utter glory.

And the Doochary road back from Gartan...Link then to the old road to Glenties.

And has anyone tried the road across Granny Glen near Ardara? Pure Tolkien. ( not driven it yet but saw they have tarmacced it.)

snow ghost

Deep Easterly wrote: »

Very true Snow, although the South Mayo/North Galway region is a bit flat and boring compared to most other places along the west coast but it has its own beauty all the same; such as the great and expansive panoramic views of the sky and landscape on all 4 horizons and all that. We have a "mountain" here which is located around 4/5 miles southwest of Tuam called Castlehackett or Knockma, which peaks at a majestic 140m asl and sticks out like a sore thumb, but it is a mighty site. If you stand on top of it, (and on a fine clear day) you can see almost the whole of Connacht right up to the north coast of Mayo, as well as the entire Galway Bay region down to Clare, and even the mountains of Tipp. Abbeyknockmoy is another hill to the southeast with has some mighty views from the top, which I think peaks around 170m, although it is more of a gradual climb than Castlehackett.

I probably should have said South West Mayo and North West Galway Deep... that said your area may be flat but as you said it has its great panoramas, for 140ASL that is a pretty good view from Castlehackett. And all the mountains, loughs, etc are only down the road from you... you're not far from Cong and Joyce Country - beautiful spots. Have you ever been around Finny? A beautiful desolate spot.

Part of Connemara is in Mayo... the Galway - Mayo borders were changed quite a lot over the years - Inish Boffin island used to be in Mayo! The old territories of our ancestors transcended the modern county boundaries and areas of Galway and Mayo would have been historically the same regions.

Btw, they were saying on a tv show yesterday that from the top of Mweelrea you can actually see Donegal and Kerry. I'm impressed with that, just hope we can't see the Sam Maguire glittering on the horizon the next time they beat us in a final.

snow ghost

Graces7 wrote: »

l

Mayo and Galway are indeed lovely; but just as lovely are some of the lesser known roads in Donegal.

We take folk over to Glenveagh, for example. And across to Falcarragh.

Utter glory.

And the Doochary road back from Gartan...Link then to the old road to Glenties.

And has anyone tried the road across Granny Glen near Ardara? Pure Tolkien. ( not driven it yet but saw they have tarmacced it.)

After Mayo and Galway Graces, Donegal would be my next favourite county for scenery.

We're lucky people living here!!!

If Katla does erupt and bring about the end of days at least we will go out with a good view - imagine if the last view you saw when Armageddon hit was a red bricked terraced street in London.

Sponge Bob

Graces7 wrote: »

And has anyone tried the road across Granny Glen near Ardara? Pure Tolkien. ( not driven it yet but saw they have tarmacced it.)

That is the drive past Maghera ( a valley over from Glengesh) is it not ??, I drove that years ago and was later told the road had collapsed and was impassable by car by 2005 or 2006.

Donegal has some absolutely spectacular drives, better than Galway or Mayo in my opinion. Sliabh League is another, from Teelin.

Now can we all get back to volcanic apocalpse.

Sponge Bob

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Now can we all get back to volcanic apocalpse.

Looking here, we may be approaching the calm before the next storm, or if we're lucky the end of the storm.

Activity is steadily declining, most likely due to the magma having "restocked" the base of the volcano, ready for the next time!

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/stodvaplott.html

snow ghost

Sponge bob,

Re: Volcanic Apocalypse - any sign of recent seismic activity that would indicate Katla is awakening?

Graces7

Sponge Bob wrote: »

That is the drive past Maghera ( a valley over from Glengesh) is it not ??, I drove that years ago and was later told the road had collapsed and was impassable by car by 2005 or 2006.

Donegal has some absolutely spectacular drives, better than Galway or Mayo in my opinion. Sliabh League is another, from Teelin.

Now can we all get back to volcanic apocalpse.

Yes that is the one.
They tarmacced it two years ago; did not manage to brave driving it alone yet.

And no way will I ever drive Teelin upwards again; would rather face a volcano.

maquiladora

Good article posted on Accuweather today :

'Explosive' Katla Could Affect Global Temperature, Devastate Iceland
http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/30707/explosive-katla-could-affect-g.asp

snow ghost

Not sure how credible this source is, but it claims Katla activity had increased by 200% a few days ago and that locals in iceland believe it will go off in the next few days:

"The eruptions and ash disturbance from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano might be waking up its neighbor, Katla. If this is the case, the results could be globally devastating. Activity at Katla has risen 200% in the last two days."

http://scienceray.com/earth-sciences/locals-believe-katla-volcano-in-iceland-near-eyjafjallajokull-will-erupt-in-seven-days/

Deep Easterly

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Donegal has some absolutely spectacular drives, better than Galway or Mayo in my opinion. Sliabh League is another, from Teelin.

I can't agree. The scenery in Connemara and West Mayo has a darker, looming quality about about it that I never quite got in Donegal. Donegal is certainly a beautiful county though in a softer kind of way.

maquiladora

snow ghost wrote: »

Not sure how credible this source is, but it claims Katla activity had increased by 200% a few days ago...

From the article posted above :

On April 20, La Femina told AccuWeather.com his colleagues at the Icelandic Meteorological Office had yet to see signs of any unusual seismic activity from Katla.