volcanic ash

It may have caused huge disruption to air travel – and coated cars in ash across Britain – but the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull in 2010 was an opportunity not to be missed for scientists at the National Oceanography Centre looking at how the supply of iron to the ocean affects atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

A technique presented in Nature Communications by researchers from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and the University of Southampton will aid in predicting the dispersal and drift patterns of large floating ‘islands’ of pumice created by volcanic eruptions at sea.

A team led by scientists from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, have today set sail from Govan in Scotland towards the region of the North Atlantic ocean affected by ash from the Icelandic volcano eruption to investigate potential impacts on ocean biology.