Ash Cloud from Iceland Volcano Has Global Economic Impact
By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer
Washington - The economic devastation caused by the activity of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano is mounting, with airlines reporting losses on the scale of $200 million per day following the shutdown of many European airports, and a wider impact moving across the globe as trade goods transported by air have been unable to reach their markets.
Airliners have been grounded by a large cloud of ash that continues to be generated by the volcanic eruptions.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said April 20 that the economic damage will likely be "profound," with particular sectors of the economy being the hardest hit.
Crowley said the Obama administration is assessing the damage as the situation continues. He reported that European air traffic was at 60 percent of its normal volume April 20, compared to 30 percent on April 19. He also said the State Department has established a monitoring group to help provide services to stranded American citizens. Crowley estimated that between 17,000 and 40,000 Americans have been affected by the aviation shutdown.
The situation could also affect "some of the initiatives we have," he said, such as ongoing U.S. efforts to promote global food security.
News reports estimate that more than 95,000 flights have been canceled across Europe since the volcanic ash cloud began to appear April 14, with government officials warning that it might take weeks for all stranded passengers to return home.
University College London volcanologist Peter Sammonds told the U.S. television network PBS' NewsHour April 16 that the ash is being created by molten rock erupting from Eyjafjallajökull that is melting a glacier above it, and that the melted water is fragmenting the magma, thereby producing a very fine ash that is then ejected high into the atmosphere above Iceland.
The drifting cloud of ash and dust has been moving east from Iceland at an altitude of 20,000 to 36,000 feet, the range where airliners normally fly. Aircraft have been grounded because the small particles of volcanic material can damage jet engines.
Writer Simon Winchester told NewsHour that the ash also poses health risks, especially to people who suffer from lung diseases like asthma. The small particles of silica in the volcanic ash can cause silicosis, which is a disease commonly associated with stone miners, he said.
According to an April 19 article in The Economist, there is no clear answer to how long the disruption to air travel in Europe will last. "Even if the volcano stopped emitting ash immediately, it might take two or more weeks before airlines could restore their schedules, with planes and crew stuck around the globe along with their passengers," the article said.
In addition, the article reported that according to the European Aviation Safety Agency, "there is currently no consensus as to what is an acceptable level of ash in the atmosphere," and it is difficult to predict long-term wind patterns or the concentration of the ash cloud.
"If meteorologists and volcanologists developed a dynamic model of the ash cloud's progress, it might be possible to keep more airports open, and to reroute planes to get passengers moving again ... [and if] the ash cloud were to drift in another direction flights could be sent around or above it," the article said. But while the dust cloud remains in place over Europe's largest airports, "that is all but impossible," The Economist reported.
After five days of canceled flights, airlines are estimating that their industry has so far lost $1 billion, and some industry leaders have begun asking for compensation from European governments or from the European Union, similar to the way airlines were compensated in 2001 after air travel in the United States was halted in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Beyond Europe and the airline industry, news reports are indicating that business owners around the world are being adversely affected by the transportation crisis. African horticulture exports, which rely upon the speed of air travel to get their perishable products to European markets, are suffering. For example, Reuters reported April 19 that Kenya's growers have already lost $12 million, with perishable exports thrown away or left to rot.
Other industries reliant upon European technology or expertise, such as diamond cutting and imports of electronics and automobiles, are being affected. Oil producers are coping with the plummeting price of jet fuel as the result of a decrease in demand.
NewsHour's senior correspondent Ray Suarez summarized the situation April 16: "For the moment, nature is reminding humankind that plans and systems and schedules sometimes have to give way to a planet that runs on its own clock."
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)
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