Wacky World News
I’m sure many of you heard about the volcano that erupted in Iceland a couple weeks ago. It shot so much ash up into the atmosphere that planes all over Europe were grounded for several days.
But that’s old news, right? The new news is that I just watched a time-lapse video that shows the airspace over Europe as planes started to fly their normal routes again.
Check it out (note: each white line represents an actual flight path):
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6BKdHEPmFA]
Wow! As this story made headlines, I kept reading that millions of people fly every day, and that thousands (upon thousands) were put out by the volcano. But knowing that fact and seeing it in action are two totally different things.
Here are a few facts we can take from watching that video:
1. We humans fly a lot;
2. Air-traffic controllers have an incredibly hard job; and
3. Like Elin Kelsey said in her special mailbag last week, everything on Earth really is connected; what happens in one part of the world (Iceland, for instance) can have a significant impact all over.
Neat, huh? That’s it for me today, OWL readers. Check back on Friday for (drumroll, please)… a reverse mailbag!
Craig, owlblog@owlkids.com
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Wow, that’s so weird!
I never realised how many flights were canceled when the eruption happened. That sure was an eye opener.
Cool video…
The flight paths are so adorable…little fast white lines..
m.
Craig, for the poetry contest do you have to hand in the crossword and does the poem have to rhyme?
Hey Mara. Nope to both. Just send in your poem â no crossword needed â and it does not have to rhyme.
wow
… WOW! I really hate to be an Air Traffic person! CRAZY!
yay!!!!!! reverse mailbag!!!!! boo ya!!!
That is so kool!I did not think there were that many flights!
Hey Craig, I had a question, for RAotW, I drew a picture, but I was wondering, do I just send it to your email or is there a special RAotW email?
Hi Madeleine. The regular OWL blog email is fine: owlblog@owlkids.com. Can’t wait to see your picture!
Can I send you a YouTube video of mine for RAoTW? It does not include my face.
what’s the video bout?
Hey Katie. We’ve never had reader-submitted videos on the blog before. Could be good! Drop me a line and tell me a bit about it!
OK, Craig, I’ll see which one I want to share.
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!
I herd about the eruption in iceland, my uncle glen got caught in it, sigh. But the good news is he is umon the living. The video made no sense to me, can you explane it to me?
P.S. umon the living means alive
is that like sparcks from a volcano
Hey Morgan and Hannah! The video is like radar â except in super-fast motion. It shows all the flights over Europe over several days. Each of those white lines represents a plane in flight. At the beginning, there are no flights. But by the end, there are tons! It just goes to show how much the volcano affected everyone!
That movie was supercool! And it was also really interesting and weird. One more question: What was your favourite food when you were little?