Sulphur dioxide cloud from Icelandic volcano eruption set to RETURN
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The sulphur dioxide gas cloud which engulfed the UK on Saturday morning is set to return and will loom over parts of the UK throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.
MailOnline first reported the poisonous plume hovering over the country on Saturday morning caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland on Thursday.
The main body of the cloud has since floated off into parts of Europe, with some of it still covering the Scottish Highlands as of 2am Monday morning.
However, another leg of it is predicted to come swirling back over to cover parts of the Midlands and the south throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.
The second wind begins its approach to the UK at around 6am on Tuesday and will slowly cover the lower and middle parts of the country until it clears completely by around 7pm on Wednesday, data by Czech weather portal Windy shows.
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The second wind begins its approach to the UK at around 6am on Tuesday morning
It will slowly cover the lower and middle parts of the country throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. Pictured: the plumes predicted path at around 7pm on Tuesday night
The UK’s skies are forecast to be completely cleared of the SO2 cloud by around 7pm on Wednesday night
Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is predominantly produced from the combustion of coal or crude oil but volcanoes also produce huge quantities of it when they erupt.
Inhaling the gas can cause symptoms such as a sore throat, coughing, a runny nose, burning eyes, tight lungs and difficulty breathing.
The colourless gas has an irritating pungent odour (familiar as the smell of a just-struck match) and can also cause stinging pain, redness and blisters when it comes in contact with the skin.
Direct exposure to SO2 is associated with asthma and chronic bronchitis, with the SO2 emitted from coal burning during the London smog in 1952 playing a key role in the thousands of respiratory-related deaths at the time.
SO2 can also combine with water vapour in the earth’s atmosphere to form acid rain that can travel large distances.
Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to SO2 inhalation, while charity Asthma and Lung UK say more people with asthma are admitted to hospital with asthma attacks when there are high levels of the gas.
The Met Office yesterday said it was ‘monitoring’ the original gas cloud and that it should have ‘little influence on ground-level air quality’.
Pictured is a Windy weather map showing the gas covering the UK at around 1.30am on Saturday
Lava pours out of the new fissure on the Reykjanes Peninsula, near the town of Grindavik
Lava spurts and flows after the eruption of a volcano in the Reykjanes Peninsula near Grindavik
Young children may also be more sensitive to the effects of SO2 due to their smaller size, a government document reads.
In June, experts said a non-explosive fissure on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland may have caused an ‘unprecedented’ spike in SO2 levels in Edinburgh not seen since the 1970s.
UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology’s senior air pollution modeller, Dr Massimo Vieno, said there was likely to be ‘minimal’ damage to the environment, reported the BBC.
He said: ‘This was an extremely unusual event that happened for a very short period of time.
‘We basically had a large explosion in Iceland, which combined with exactly the right configuration of wind to bring the plume from the Reykjanes Peninsula to Scotland and to Edinburgh specifically.
‘It is a very unique event’.
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