Don't try to fly

With incredibly bad timing, on top of the pile of post I received this morning lay a brochure from a travel company asking in large letters,

WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
VISIT INCREDIBLE ICELAND

Yes, well... er... a flight or two might help. But there are few flights to anywhere today, least of all to Iceland.

Having amused myself with the complete inability of anyone I have heard so far to make even a vague attempt at pronouncing "Eyjafjallajökull" correctly, I tried to write a phonetic version, which Fred declared to be just as unpronounceable as the original, so I will not attempt to enlighten you.

Yes I have seen Eyjafjallajökull from all directions, and flown over it more than once while it was peacefully slumbering. I took the picture below when I was flying to Iceland some years ago. Eyjafjallajökull is the white blob to the left of centre. The white blob to the right is Mýrdalsjökull, a much larger ice-cap, also concealing a volcano with the much more easily pronounceable name of Katla, which could also be triggered into eruption by the current activity. The neck between the two, only partly covered in snow, is Fimmvörðuháls - the location of the smaller eruption that took place in March.

Here are some good places to look for more information:

http://iceland-dori.blogspot.com/
Written by an Icelander, but in English, gives a real feel for what it´s like to be there. Lots of videos and links to other interesting sites, and if you were worried about breathing in volcanic dust, just look at the video of "Driving through volcanic ash"

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/
3 movie webcams. The locations vary from time to time, but currently "Eyjafjallajökull frá Hvolsvelli" is giving the best view

http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/perm/iceland/eyafallajokull_20100414-en.html
This Swiss site has some excellent photos of the eruption

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?subset=Iceland
Current satellite views of Iceland which can be viewed at various resolutions. View previous days by clicking on the "prev" button

http://icelandreview.com/
Icelandic news in English, with lots of articles about the eruption

Yesterday evening Fred and I decided to go and see if the sunset was better than usual. We weren't convinced that it was more brightly coloured, but at least it was free of vapour trails.

Sunset over Ben Lomond

Now I will attempt to post this, hoping that Blogger can cope with all those funny Icelandic letters.

Added on 18th April 2010

I found this magnificent satellite image of the south of Iceland produced yesterday. Click on it to see a larger version.

Public domain: NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response