The ash cloud that never was: How volcanic plume over UK was only a twentieth of safe-flying limit and blunders led to ban
The Mail on Sunday can today reveal the full extent of the shambles behind the great airspace shutdown that cost the airlines £1.3 billion and left 150,000 Britons stranded - all for a supposed volcanic ash cloud that for most of the five-day flights ban was so thin it was invisible.
As the satellite images of the so-called 'aerosol index' published for the first time, right, demonstrate, the sky above Britain was totally clear of ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano.
Open skies: A sequence of images taken from space showing the 'aerosol index', the concentration of particles of ash or other pollution in the atmosphere. On April 15, the Icelandic volcano plume is clearly visible as a streak of orange, or 4.0 on the scale. Scientists say that anything more than a 2.0 - shown here as yellow - could indicate ash. The maps make it clear that for most of the shutdown, ash was visible over only small parts of Britain, and on some days, there was none at all.Inquiries by this newspaper have disclosed that:
- Attempts to measure the ash's density were hampered because the main aircraft used by the Meteorological Office for this purpose had been grounded as it was due to be repainted.
- Computers at the Met Office, which earlier forecast a 'barbecue summer' last year and a mild winter for this year, produced a stream of maps predicting the ash would cover a vast area, eventually stretching from Russia to Newfoundland. But across almost all of it, there was virtually no ash at all, and none visible to satellites.
- Though there was some ash over Britain at times during the ban, the maximum density measured by scientists was only about one twentieth of the limit that scientists, the Government, and aircraft and engine manufacturers have now decided is safe.
Just a puff of smoke
Following the First World War, the Met Office became part of the Air Ministry in 1920, the weather observed from the top of Adastral House (where the Air Ministry was based) giving rise to the phrase "The weather on the Air Ministry roof". As a result of the need for accurate weather information for aviation, the Met Office located many of its observation and data collection points on RAF airfields, and this accounts for the large number of military airfields mentioned in weather reports even today. In 1936 the Met Office split with services to the Royal Navy being provided by its own forecasting services.
ReplyDeleteIt currently holds a quasi-governmental role, being required to act commercially, but also has remained an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence since April 1990. A branch of the Met Office known as the Mobile Met Unit (MMU) accompany forward units in times of conflict advising the armed forces of the prevailing conditions for battle, particularly the RAF. The Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research and the National Meteorological Library and Archive are also parts of the Met Office.
Isn't this sorta also how the BBC works?
"Isn't this sorta also how the BBC works?"
ReplyDeleteThe BBC is one big spook agency and can't help but think how they're pension funds are probably profiting off cat bonds based on the MET Office's simulations on weather.
What else could explain all the money the BBC has. I mean, my God, here's an example:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1268613/Green-BBC-spends-5million-flying-directors-Britain.html
It's like we're in a war against the mind benders at the BBC?