Report: Volcanic eruptions cost world nearly $5 billion
Air Travel disruptions caused by the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano cost nearly $5 billion in global GDP, according to a report released Thursday.
"The far reaching impacts of the recent disruption to air transport have of course been felt acutely by travelers, airlines and destinations. But the impact has also been felt by those who rely on goods that are imported and exported by airfreight, and on general production and productivity," Oxford Economics Chief Executive Adrian Cooper said in presenting his story at the World Travel and Tourism Council's 10th Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Beijing, China, according to an Airbus news release. "This report shows the integral role aviation plays in the basic and every day functions of society and commerce."
The first week of the ash-related closures of large portions of European airspace resulted in $4.7 billion of lost global GDP and the roughly 5,000 further flights canceled after that, through May 24, added 5 percent to that, according to the report.
The biggest impact was on Europe, which lost $2.6 billion, followed by the Americas, which lost $957 million, according to the report.
Also Thursday, the International Air Transport Association blamed the volcano for a 2.4 percent drop in worldwide passenger demand in April, compared with April 2009. (Full report is here.)
"The ash crisis knocked back the global recovery -- impacting carriers in all regions," Giovanni Bisignani, the agency's director general and chief executive, said in a news release. "Last month, we were within 1 percent of pre-crisis traffic levels in 2008. In April, that was pushed back to 7 percent."
European carriers' said traffic drop of 11.7 percent, "could not have come at a worse time," Bisignani said. "Europe's slow recovery from the global financial crisis and its currency crisis are already a huge burden on the profitability of its airlines. The uncoordinated and excessive cancellations and unfairly onerous passenger care requirements rubbed salt into the European industry's wounds."
Europe must reform its air traffic management, Bisignani said. "The ash crisis was an embarrassing wake-up call for European governments. We need leadership to deliver the Single European Sky, fair passenger rights legislation and continent-wide coordination."
Pivoting to airline strikes, he said:
The labor unrest plaguing Europe this year is unbelievable. It's a tough competitive world. Airlines need to reduce costs to be competitive. Labor must realize that their pay checks are supported by the performance of the company. The middle of a very fragile recovery is not the time to be asking for salary increases or improved conditions. This mentality is divorced from reality.
Demand fell 1.9 percent for North American carriers in April, mostly due to the impact of the ash crisis on North Atlantic routes, the association said. Worldwide cargo traffic was up 25.2 in April from a year earlier, down from March's 28.1 jump.
Electric Ash Found in Iceland Plume Miles From Volcano
Ash recharged itself as the plume moved over Europe, study says.
Ash plumes from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano cover the sky over Eyjafjoll earlier this month.
Photograph by Ingolfur Juliusson, Reuters
for National Geographic News
Published May 27, 2010
The ash plume from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which crippled international air travel in April, held a shocking secret: an unexpected electric charge.
Ash plumes directly over erupting volcanoes have been known to generate lightning, and electrically charged ash has been found in previous plumes up to 30 miles (50 kilometers) from their source volcanoes. (See pictures of lighting in the Eyjafjallajökull volcano's ash plume.)
But according to a new study, electric ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano was found a record 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) away from the eruption.
At that distance, it wasn't energy from the eruption itself that charged the ash, said study co-author Giles Harrison, a meteorologist at the University of Reading in the U.K. Based on the average size and shape of particles in the ash, "any initial charging that occurred would have decayed away many times over."
In fact, ash from deep in the volcanic plume was still charged 32 hours after being spewed from the Iceland peak, which suggests that the charge was self-renewing, the scientists say.
The discovery means that many volcanic ash plumes might be electrified, which could have implications for the air-travel industry.
Electric Ash Deep in Volcanic Plume
The Eyjafjallajökull volcano started erupting in late March, and on April 14 the volcano began belching out a gigantic plume of ash.
The plume traveled to continental Europe, grounding flights around the world for days, due to fears of ash clogging plane engines. (Find out more about the risks volcanic ash poses to airplanes.)
As the plume drifted over Scotland, Harrison and colleagues rushed to the western port city of Stranraer (map), where the 1,970-foot-thick (600-meter-thick) layer of ash loomed about two and a half miles (four kilometers) above.
The team launched a custom weather balloon outfitted with instruments to gauge the size and characteristics of atmospheric ash particles.
Even in fair weather, a very small electric field is present in Earth's atmosphere. This field can charge airborne particles and the edges of clouds, Harrison said.
But the electric volcanic ash was found in the middle of the thick plume, not on its edges. That would seem to rule out atmospheric electricity and normal weather activity as sources of the charge.
"There has to be something related to the particles themselves, because the charge is in proportion to where the particles are and how many there are," Harrison said. "But we really can't say any more than that."
Prior research done with weather balloons had shown that desert dust storms can become electrified through a process of particle collision that is not yet completely understood. The same phenomenon may be at work with volcanic ash, the scientists suggest.
How Electric Ash Affects Flights
Electrified ash could theoretically pose a risk to air traffic, because charged particles might interfere with radio transmissions, the study authors say. Also, if charged ash penetrates an aircraft cabin, it could create an electrostatic hazard to passengers and internal systems.
But Harrison noted that aircraft are built to withstand lightning strikes, which carry comparatively massive charges, so the risks from electricity in ash seem small.
In fact, Harrison noted, the discovery of electric ash could be a boon to air travelers, because the charge can help scientists better predict a volcanic ash plume's movements.
Electric charges are fairly easy to observe with existing instruments, so a charged plume should be easier to track, even after the visible plume has largely dispersed.
(Related: "Iceland Volcano Has 'Quieted Down'—Ash Crisis to End?")
Scientists also know how charges affect the way particles combine—which impacts their weight and thus their movements—and how easily particles are washed out of the sky by rainfall.
Measuring a plume's charges could therefore help scientists better estimate where the ash will go and how long it will stay aloft.
The electric-ash study was published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
Iceland Volcano May 27, 2010 Update – Katla Volcano Now a Concern
Iceland Volcano May 27, 2010 Update – Katla Volcano Now a Concern. Just few days back we reported that the temperature in the Eyjafjallajökull volcano has dropped significantly and the eruption has completely stopped. Now we are looking at a bigger threat. Ever since the eruption started in the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, there is increased speculation that a much bigger neighboring volcano "Katla" may explode.
The newly formed UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster reduction provided a strong warning that with the high frequency of eruptions of Katla, a larger eruption is a near term possibility. They believe that new earthquake activity will lead to the eruption in Katla. Seismic readings also confirm that volcanic activity at the site has increased over 200% in recent days. If Katla erupts, it has the potential to be more damaging than the recent 2010 Iceland Volcano eruption which affected the European air space with an ash cloud that hung over Europe for nearly a month.
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