Technical Updates on the Ash Cloud

Here is an animated gif of the ash cloud over time and the latest prediction for the ash cloud cover today and tomorrow. Countries such as France have some airports open and some flights are taking off from there by first shuttling their passengers 600 kilometers south.

Here is the latest Met office surface pressure.

List of European Airport Closures and Status – Live Updating. Of particular technical interest:

Scientists from Wiltshire and ETH Zurich after test flights have concluded that the UK and Swiss skies are still dangerous to fly in and that there are gritty particles between FL80-100.
However, it appears that some airline CEOs are pressing for an opening of airspace to minimise their losses. This is not a very good choice as if an equipment such as a PITOT tube gets damaged, you will be unaware of it till an accident takes place. This is specially so given that the ash concentration in two airspaces could be vastly different. Experts’ opinion is that a test flight by an airline without any measurement equipment onboard does not provide enough evidence to conclude the skies as safe. Wiltshire scientists concluded their test flights using a specially configured Do-228 with equipment to test the ash particles.
A Swiss pilot had posted a photo of FL100 showing a dense, visible, ash cloud over Switzerland.

Eurocontrol gives an idea of the amount of backlog in terms of flights here: 63,000 flights cancelled as of yesterday.

Follow on Twitter
@AirlineIndustry
@Eurocontrol
Hashtags : #EUVA, #ashtag

Finally, a live webcam of the cloud at the volcano.