Did Ya See?

Shared by Mystech

And you thought “Eyjafjallajökull” was just a foot stool in the Spring IKEA catalog.

Remember Eyjafjallajökull? Iceland’s “lazy” volcano that was the site of wacky wiener roasts and beautiful photos featuring the Northern Lights? In that last post, reader Nash Rambler predicted that Eyjafjallajökull was simply “unmotivated” and would someday “graduate from college, throw out the bong and Snoop Dogg posters, and wipe out an Italian city”.

Well, not quite. But it has managed to ground all air traffic in the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Yesterday, Eyjafjallajökull erupted, sending up a huge ash plume that’s forced flight cancellations all across northern Europe, for fear that large particles in the plume could clog jet engines. The UK’s air traffic control service told the BBC that this is the worst airspace restriction in living memory. The eruption itself apparently melted large chunks of a glacier, forcing 800 Icelanders to flee flooding. So far, it doesn’t look like there’ve been any deaths.

Whatever it’s up to, Eyjafjallajökull is certainly photogenic. More great pictures on Flickr.

Thanks to our own Arkizzle for the tip-off!