Unless you have been vacationing on the far side of the moon, you will have seen lots of pictures of the recent Eyjafjallajökull eruption.
Location map, courtesy Wikimedia Commons
On July 12 there was a break in the clouds over Iceland making it possible to see the area of the volcano. I have been waiting for a better picture, but according to Murphy's law the cloud will only disperse fully once I have lost patience with waiting and posted the Jul 12 image.
On July 12 2009 Eyjafjallajökull's neighbor Katla's Mýrdalsjökull ice cap was clean and white.
Eyjafjallajökull and Katla's Mýrdalsjökull ice caps - July 12 2009
Eyjafjallajökull and Katla's Mýrdalsjökull ice caps - July 21 2010
Edit: wrong date given for above image (12th) - corrected to 21st.
image source:
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?subset=Arctic_r01c03.2010202...
I wonder just how thick the ash cover is on Katla. Is it deep enough to insulate the ice and slow down melting, or thin enough to promote melting through albedo change?
Time will tell.
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