FALLING ASH:ICELAND'S VOLCANIC ash has been detected on the Connemara coastline, but the minute particles are no threat to public health, according to experts at NUI Galway.
“People in Galway have been breathing in the particles over the past day or so,” Prof Colin O’Dowd, director of NUIG’s Centre for Climate and Air Pollution Studies, confirmed yesterday.
“The particles are less than a millionth of a metre, can’t be seen and are well below EU levels for air pollution exceedance.”
The volcanic plume was observed at NUI Galway’s Mace Head atmospheric research station in Connemara, some 50 miles west of Galway city, on Monday and was at an altitude of 2,000 metres yesterday.
Prof O’Dowd said the ash has a particular “signature” in terms of sulphate content.
A substance reported on cars in Galway city over the last few days related to regular air pollution, and was not linked to the volcanic eruption, he said.
Mace Head is fitted with specialised instrumentation which is installed at strategic boundary locations around Ireland.
The Connemara station has some of the most advanced atmospheric instrumentation in the world.
“By Monday afternoon the plume was observed to be about 200 metres thick over Mace Head, at 3km altitude but invisible to the naked eye,” Prof O’Dowd said.
“Through the night, the plume mixed into the surface level and continues to be observed through the day. The plume will have diluted significantly and is not thought to significantly impact on air quality.
“This is not the first volcanic emissions from Iceland that has been observed at Mace Head,” he noted.
“Last year, we published a paper on emission plumes from a non-erupting volcano event which occurred on June 26th, 2007, and, even more recently [10 days before the current eruption], we could detect volcanic plumes.”
“The regional scale impact of the current plume is in a different league,“he continued. “However, our atmospheric sampling capabilities demonstrate their critical usefulness in early warning systems monitoring and post-event assessment.”
The ash is expected to fall to land and sea over the next few days on the west coast.
Meanwhile yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency said the ash plume had not caused a deterioration in the quality of Ireland’s air.
Air quality at locations across the country monitored by the EPA was described as fair, good and very good yesterday evening. It said monitoring had not shown any increase in pollution as a result of the ash cloud.
Earlier this week, the Government taskforce on emergency planning said the dust observed recently on cars and windows was not volcanic ash and moved to dampen down fears about the health implications.
The Health Service Executive said signs of volcanic ash in the air included itchy or irritated eyes, runny nose, sore throat or dry cough. The sulphur dioxide in the ash could give rise to a smell similar to rotten eggs.
The Asthma Society said there was no need for undue concern at the moment, but if the situation changed, people with respiratory conditions may notice their symptoms worsening.