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20/11/2014
QUB Scientists In Ash-Cloud Breakthrough
Researchers at Queen's University have discovered a volcanic ash cloud that travelled from Alaska to Northern Ireland, overturning current assumptions regarding how far ash deposits can drift.
The discovery was made in partnership with an international team of academics and has been published in the journal Geology. It provides evidence that ash clouds can travel across the Atlantic Ocean.
The particular ash that was recorded by Queen's was found in sites across Europe, including Sluggan Bog near Randalstown, Co Antrim and has been traced to an eruption from Mount Bona-Churchill in Alaska, around AD 847.
The discovery follows the chaos caused by the volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupting in Iceland in 2010, which saw over 100,000 international flights grounded and cost airlines more than £2bn.
Lead researcher, Dr Britta Jensen from the School of Geography, Archaeology and Paleoecology at Queen's University, said: "The ash, or tephra, is from Mount Bona-Churchill where it is called the White River Ash and occurs as a thick white layer spreading eastwards into Canada.
"Using chemical 'fingerprinting', the team has matched it to a tephra layer which occurs in Ireland, Norway, Germany and Greenland, where it is called the AD860B. For the past 20 years or so, European researchers assumed that AD860B came from a relatively nearby volcano in Iceland, which is the source of most ash in Europe, including that from Eyjafjallajokull in 2010.
"However, the AD860B never quite fitted with what researchers knew of volcanoes in Iceland."
(IT/JP)
The discovery was made in partnership with an international team of academics and has been published in the journal Geology. It provides evidence that ash clouds can travel across the Atlantic Ocean.
The particular ash that was recorded by Queen's was found in sites across Europe, including Sluggan Bog near Randalstown, Co Antrim and has been traced to an eruption from Mount Bona-Churchill in Alaska, around AD 847.
The discovery follows the chaos caused by the volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupting in Iceland in 2010, which saw over 100,000 international flights grounded and cost airlines more than £2bn.
Lead researcher, Dr Britta Jensen from the School of Geography, Archaeology and Paleoecology at Queen's University, said: "The ash, or tephra, is from Mount Bona-Churchill where it is called the White River Ash and occurs as a thick white layer spreading eastwards into Canada.
"Using chemical 'fingerprinting', the team has matched it to a tephra layer which occurs in Ireland, Norway, Germany and Greenland, where it is called the AD860B. For the past 20 years or so, European researchers assumed that AD860B came from a relatively nearby volcano in Iceland, which is the source of most ash in Europe, including that from Eyjafjallajokull in 2010.
"However, the AD860B never quite fitted with what researchers knew of volcanoes in Iceland."
(IT/JP)
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Northern Ireland WeatherThis Evening and Tonight:Another cloudy and mild night with the odd spot of light drizzle. More widespread outbreaks of rain will spread southeast into western parts of Tyrone, Fermanagh and Derry late in the night. Minimum temperature 8 °C.
