Airports in Europe are closed again because of the volcanic ash - this time in Great Britain and Ireland

The continued eruption of the volcano in Iceland plus problematic wind regimes led to the decision to ground much of the UK's airspace. On Tuesday, the airports in London may also be closed

Over 200 flights were canceled yesterday (Sunday) when many UK airports were closed due to the volcanic ash that continues to drift over Europe from the volcano in Iceland.

Today (Monday, May 17, 2010) the area where it is forbidden to fly east and south has expanded to include Gatwick and Heathrow airports in London as well as Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. The El Al flight to Amsterdam that was scheduled for this morning has been cancelled, and an announcement will be made regarding the flights to London later today, after it is clarified when the airports in London will open.

It is worth noting that the volcano has not rested for a moment in recent months since the initial eruption in March and the stronger eruption in April and it continues to emit volcanic ash, although the risk to aviation is when the ash is concentrated enough and the wind regime causes it to reach densely populated areas.

Forecasters say London's airspace is still safe to fly at least until Tuesday, but not the East Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool, Dancaster, Humberside and Carlisle, which were closed after the Civil Aviation Authority declared them no-fly zones.

The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano that began on April 14 has affected air traffic across Europe, leaving thousands of passengers stranded after forcing more than 20 European countries to close airports.

Yesterday it was reported that the airports in Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands and the Isle of Man were also affected. Although the airports in London remained open, passengers were asked to check with the airlines if their flight was going on. The cloud is expected to reach London on Tuesday, but will drift out of British airspace on Wednesday.

The combination of continued volcanic activity and weather systems may continue to bring ash clouds towards Britain, said Jonathan Estill from the air traffic control system in an interview with the BBC yesterday (Sunday).

More on the topic of volcanic ash on the science website

• The aviation hysteria: 90 planes were damaged by ash, until it was decided to stop flying through the volcanic ash clouds
• Not far from the volcano in Iceland, an island was born in a volcanic eruption about 50 years ago
• Volcanic ash is like "hard rain"
• The European Space Agency photographed the ash cloud covering Europe