Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal

Ash cloud from Iceland Met Office and UK Met Office.

The Iceland volcano that has shut down the air traffic over much of Europe sent ash clouds high again today and the news is not good. The upper level winds are likely to continue to blow the ash toward the UK and Northern Europe.

Most of the ash is in a layer from 20,000 to 35,000 feet. Since most aircraft fly around 35,000 feet across the Atlantic, it is impacting almost all of the transatlantic flights. The ash is hard to see on weather satellites but the thicker portion of the plume is visible.

The UK Met Office has been using LIDAR to measure the intensity and location of the cloud over the UK. LIDAR is like radar but uses laser light instead of radio waves.

Forecasting the ash can be broken down into three problems.

1.  Where is it now?

2. Where is it going?

3. Is there more coming up?

Unfortunately, there IS more coming up.

The ash cloud reached 24,000 feet today. The pic above shows where it is now, and the image below shows where it is likely to go. This forecast map is for the winds at around 30,000 feet for Saturday. You can see the streamlines pointing straight toward Western Europe.

Upper level winds forecast for 11am Saturday, London time. The ash will likely spread out and cover much of NW Europe.

If the volcano calms down a bit the ash will clear in about 24-36 hours.

Update:  Here is a pic of the dusty sky over North Wales on Friday evening from a friend. Most of the time he shoots wedding not clouds. Just the opposite of me! If you ever need a wedding photographed Alan Williams in Wales, you know now who to call!

Stay tuned, and for those of you stuck in Paris or London – why are you complaining!!

I saw this video over on the GEOGRAPHILE Blog. I just added it to my google reader and am glad I did.

Sunset at the South Pole. From Nick Morgan Forecaster at South Pole Station.

Last but not least, someone finally told the truth about Lord Monckton. Some media love to quote this guy even though he knows nothing about the science. A good rule of thumb to follow is that any article with him quoted is probably lousy journalism. A decent science reporter would never use someone who knows nothing about a subject and has no scientific training as a source.

Peter Sinclair’s Climate Denier Crock of The Week takes him on. As usual he gets the science spot on.

There are some fabulously well written blogs and excellent science sites online. I have never done a post of the best that I have come across before, until now!

So below is a sampling of sound science writing that got my attention this week.

Jim Robbins at Yale Environment 360 has an in depth piece on the great die off out west. Perhaps enough evidence to indict climate change for causing it, but not enough for a conviction as of yet.

I love astronomical time lapses and Amanda Bauer in the UK has a great one.

Astropixie has a beautiful time lapse from Mauna Kea. Great blog!

Tavie Greiner and Rob Keown have a post on International Sidewalk Astronomy Night.

March 20th is the equinox (No, eggs will not stand up any better than any other day) and it's also ISAN. Oh, and guess what it's free!

Nasa’s Earth Observatory site always has something I like and the rapid urbanization of Dubai is vividly shown by NASA’s Terra satellite.

All that oil makes them a lot of money doesn't it...

Dr. Erik Klemetti has a great profile of the active volcano Erta Ale on his blog ERUPTIONS

Got Magma???

Last but not least is Peter Sinclair’s Climate Denial Crock of the Week. Peter is superbly good at taking the spin out of inaccurate science reporting. This week he talks about where to get your science from, and where NOT to get it. Peter is the secret hero of a lot of scientists I think.

This is the broadband seismogram from Virginia Tech. It is set to record distant quakes. It speaks for itself. Keep in mind the distance between Chile and Blacksburg Virginia. The Earth rang like a bell last night.

Any questions?