Skip to content
The Eyjafjallajokull glacier and volcano in southern Iceland. The volcano erupted in March 2010. The ash cloud from the eruption has caused cancellation of flights all over the world and for some time closed the entire European airspace.

What can happen when flying through volcanic ash?

New PhD at NILU: Volcanic ash in the atmosphere poses a risk for air traffic. In addition, it causes health risks to both humans and the climate.

Andreas Vogel
Andreas Vogel. Foto: Finn Bjørklid, NILU

Andreas Vogel defends his PhD thesis at the Department of Geosciences at the University of Oslo on Thursday, 21 June this year. The dissertation is titled «Volcanic Ash: Properties, Atmospheric Effects, and Impacts on Aero-Engines».

In his work, Vogel has investigated various types of ash, location and concentration, with particular emphasis on particle size and its implication for aircraft engines. The study provides a better understanding of the risk of flying through volcanic ashes.

The PhD work has been carried out at NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research and the Department of Geosciences at UiO, under the VERTIGO Marie Curie Initial Training Network project, funded through the European Seventh Framework Programme – FP7 2007-2013 (Grant Agreement number 607905).

Read more about the disputation and Andreas Vogel’s work here:

http://www.mn.uio.no/geo/forskning/aktuelt/arrangementer/disputaser/2018/metos/vogel.html