An ash plume from an Ethiopian volcanic ash eruption reached India Late Monday, November 24. The Hayli Gubbi volcano, located in Ethiopia’s Afar region about 800 kilometers (500 mi) northeast of Addis Ababa near the Eritrean border, erupted on Sunday, November 2, for the first time on November 23, 2000.
There was no lava, but thick plumes of smoke rose up to 14 kilometers (nine miles) into the sky, the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) said. Videos shared on social media, which could not be immediately verified, showed a thick column of white smoke rising.
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Volcanic ash drifted towards India around 11 pm on Monday and reached the skies over Gujarat, Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday. This has raised concerns about its impact on weather and air quality over India.
After more than 24 hours, is Delhi and North India still under threat or has the threat passed?
In its latest update, the India Meteorological Department quoted by the Hindustan Times said that at 10.30pm on Tuesday, satellite images showed that the ash plume from the Ethiopian volcanic eruption had completely left India.
The IMD said in an earlier update that a large ash plume produced by a volcanic eruption in Ethiopia had risen to around 45,000 feet – disrupting high-altitude flight corridors and prompting widespread cancellations.
Flight disruption
Airlines have canceled dozens of flights that were supposed to fly over the affected areas. India’s flag carrier Air India said it canceled 11 flights, most of them international, on Monday and Tuesday to check planes that may have flown over the affected areas, in line with a directive from India’s aviation safety regulator.
Another Indian operator, Akasa Air, said it had canceled flights to Middle Eastern destinations such as Jeddah, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi scheduled for the past two days.
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At least seven international flights scheduled to depart and arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in the Indian capital Delhi were canceled on Tuesday, while at least a dozen were delayed, an airport official said.
Has Ethiopian Volcanic Ash Weather Affected Air Quality?
Experts noted that ash clouds from Ethiopia’s Hayli Gubbi volcanic eruption affected aviation but not local weather or air quality.
Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of meteorology at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), said the impact remained limited to higher levels.
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“The impact of this volcanic ash is seen only in the upper troposphere and is affecting flight operations. It has no impact on air quality and weather. Our estimate is that this volcanic ash will completely move towards China by evening,” he told ANI.
He explained that international flights usually operate between 35,000 and 40,000 feet, while domestic flights fly between 25,000 and 33,000 feet, adding that volcanic ash was observed “in the upper troposphere” over Indian airspace.
“Residents coughed”
The official in charge of health in Afdera district in northern Ethiopia, Abedella Mussa, said residents were coughing and mobile medical services from the greater Afar region had been deployed to the remote area.
“Two medical teams have been dispatched to affected kebeles (neighborhoods) such as Fia and Nemma-Gubi to provide mobile medical services,” the Associated Press quoted him as saying.
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Another official in charge of livestock, Nuur Mussa, said the animals were unable to find clean water or grass. “Many animals, especially in the two affected kebeles, cannot drink clean water or feed on grass because it is covered with volcanic ash,” he said.
