According to Air Canada, flights from Canada headed to London's Heathrow Airport will be cancelled or delayed because of the ash in the air from Eyjafjallajokull volcano that erupted in Iceland. Moreover, thousands of flights have been cancelled in countries throughout Europe due to the volcanic ash and debris that swept up into the atmosphere. On top of that, this is the first time Great Britain has closed air traffic since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Due to the little wind, the volcano ash is progressing very slowly eastwards. Therefore, the ash is very dense. Colin Macpherson, a professor of Earth sciences at Britain's Durham University explained, "What we are seeing in Iceland is that as the magma particles get towards the surface, they interact with the very cold water and they chill to form glassy fragments and these glassy fragments are small, they have sharp edges and when those get up in the air that is what is causing the risk to aviation."
The volcano is located under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, which erupted on Wednesday for the second time in a month. The eruption from Wednesday caused flooding and forced Icelanders to evacuate their homes. Volcanologists who are monitoring the fine volcanic glass emitted from Iceland over the past few days have stressed, "It is difficult to predict what level of activity could be expected in the days and weeks ahead." Thus, Airspace in Europe is expected to be closed if the situation worsens.
