Eyjafjallajökull's volcanic ash cloud in Google Earth

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:27:00 GMT

I haven't posted anything on this blog for a long time. For once, I come back with something that is not related to my main hobby, astronomy. As was the case for many other people, my vacation plans got screwed up by the Eyjafjallajökull icelandic volcano spewing a cloud of ash that caused thousands of flights in most Europe to be grounded.

The entity responsible for issuing periodic updates and forecast on the evolution of the ash cloud is the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center of the UK Met Office. I managed to turn my missed vacation into a programming opportunity, by writing a very simple java program that turns these bulletins into KML files, which can be visualized using Google Earth's advanced 3-D features:

Click on the link below ("Read more...") for the full story!

Bloomingstars.com - Emmanuele Sordini 's astronomy and computing homepage - eruption tag

Eyjafjallajökull's volcanic ash cloud in Google Earth