# Weather Influence of Iceland Volcano **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2010, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619 "2010-04-19T09:29:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/1 "2010-04-19T09:29:34Z")
Will the recent volcano eruption in Iceland change the weather in Western Europe? Will we have a cooler summer? Or a maybe a mini Ice age? Follow up threads Is legal to own a furry Mammoth Is this a Sabre thooth footprint outside my iglo(need anwser fast) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Philosopher)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/2 "2010-04-19T12:10:46Z")
Well where I am in the UK it’s been sunny and blue skies for about a week now. Maybe the volcanic ash has defeated all the clouds in a battle? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/3 "2010-04-19T12:13:45Z")
I’d heard this latest eruption was too small to affect the weather. So I looked it up; [here’s](http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-19/icelandic-volcano-falls-short-of-weather-changing-pinatubo.html) what I found. > [@](#): > > The volcanic ash spewing from Iceland that’s disrupting air travel across Europe is hundreds of times less than erupted from Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, which altered the world’s climate in 1991. > > The impact of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano is likely to be “virtually non-existent” on global climate because the eruption is too small and gases are not penetrating the upper atmosphere, said Blair Trewin, a senior climatologist with the Australia’s National Climate Centre in Melbourne. But the Icelandic ice cap is thawing–which _could_ cause [more eruptions](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100416/wl_nm/us_iceland_volcano_climate)! ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/4 "2010-04-19T12:15:17Z")
What I want to know is, does the Earth’s rotation have more of a bearing on the direction of the volcanic clouds than wind currents? Is it the planet’s rotation which creates the air currents, or is that just a temperature thing? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/5 "2010-04-19T13:12:44Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > does the Earth’s rotation have more of a bearing on the direction of the volcanic clouds than wind currents? By what means other than how it influences wind can the Earth’s rotation have any effect? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/6 "2010-04-19T13:16:42Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > By what means other than how it influences wind can the Earth’s rotation have any effect? Well, as we are rotating at a 1,000mph, unless the atmosphere is moving exactly in sync, I’d expect a little turbulence at least. Am I wrong to think so? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/7 "2010-04-19T13:29:59Z")
ultra-Short version: The temperature difference between equator and poles causes north-south wind. The Earth’s eastwards rotation transforms that into a predominantly eastward net wind. The volcanic clouds (and conventional clouds too) go where the wind carries them. No other material force is acting on them. ETA on IA’s last point. The atmosphere as a whole is in sync with the planet’s rotation. The net wind is the expression of the amount of non-sync. And the net wind is stronger at altitude (see “jet stream”) precisely because it’s best coupled to the ground at ground level. And some (not all) of what we call “weather” can be attributed to drag effects and turbulence at large (multi-hundred mile) scale. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/8 "2010-04-19T14:47:02Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > ultra-Short version: The temperature difference between equator and poles causes north-south wind. The Earth’s eastwards rotation transforms that into a predominantly eastward net wind. The volcanic clouds (and conventional clouds too) go where the wind carries them. No other material force is acting on them. > > ETA on IA’s last point. The atmosphere as a whole is in sync with the planet’s rotation. The net wind is the expression of the amount of non-sync. And the net wind is stronger at altitude (see “jet stream”) precisely because it’s best coupled to the ground at ground level. And some (not all) of what we call “weather” can be attributed to drag effects and turbulence at large (multi-hundred mile) scale. Nice job. Let’s note that “predominantly eastward” is latitude-specific. (These are tje “prevailing westerlies” of popular terminology – a “west wind” or “westerly” is one that comes from the west, relative to where you are.) In the tropics and near the poles, the counter-flow occurs – predominantly east-to-west winds. The southerly set of these (in the Northern Hemisphere) are the “Trade Winds” of song and story. So what you end up with is winds blowing mostly from temperate-zone America to Europe and mostly from North Africa to the Caribbean, setting up a large, stable, non-catastrophic vortex over the Atlantic centered on Bermuda and the Sargasso Sea. Similar, though not so obvious, effects occur over the South Atlantic, North and South Pacific, and Indian Oceans. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/9 "2010-04-19T15:10:26Z")
I was going to start a Meteorology 101 thread, but I’m out of time. If anyone would like to start one, I think it would be a good place for weather questions. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/10 "2010-04-19T16:36:18Z")
> [@willthekittensurvive](#): > > Will the recent volcano eruption in Iceland change the weather in Western Europe? > Will we have a cooler summer? Or a maybe a mini Ice age? Danish volcano expert Henning Andersen believes summer temperature in Denmark will be some degrees lower on account of the eruption. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/11 "2010-04-19T18:56:46Z")
A related question: I was watching the news this morning, and they showed diagrams confirming the prevailing easterly travel of the smoke and ash – and then followed up by saying Canadian flights may start canceling today as the plume hits North America. None of the experts or maps I’ve seen indicated westward movement of the plume. What’s going on here? And, by the way, I just had to say this is a marvelous thread title/dopername combo: Weather Influence of Iceland Volcano willthekittensurvive? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weather-influence-of-iceland-volcano/536619/12 "2010-04-21T14:12:17Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:11, topic:536619”] A related question: I was watching the news this morning, and they showed diagrams confirming the prevailing easterly travel of the smoke and ash – and then followed up by saying Canadian flights may start canceling today as the plume hits North America. None of the experts or maps I’ve seen indicated westward movement of the plume. What’s going on here? And, by the way, I just had to say this is a marvelous thread title/dopername combo: Weather Influence of Iceland Volcano willthekittensurvive? [/QUOTE] I suspect the cloud has gone eastward from Iceland, over Europe, across Russia and is now entering Alaska and Canada from the west. In another week-ish it’ll enter Iceland from the west. Then we’ll have a band forming a full circle around the north pole.