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"Ash from Iceland’s erupting Eyjafjallajökull Volcano had drifted over northern Europe by April 16, 2010. The brown ash is mixed with clouds in this photo-like image taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite at 12:45 p.m. local time (GMT +2). The visible ash sweeps in an arc across the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Russia. It is likely that the clouds mask additional ash."
This photo is from Sverrir Thor's photostream on flickr
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"...In 1783, the world saw what Iceland's volcanoes are capable of. On June 8, the Laki fissures began erupting in the southern part of the island.
The effects were catastrophic on Iceland: 9,000 people were killed, between 20 and 25 percent of the population at the time. Livestock herds were decimated, animals' succumbed to grisly deaths as their teeth and bones dissolved in millions of tons of hydrogen fluoride gas that poured forth from Laki.
Through the summer, sulfur dioxide fumes swept down through Europe, turning the sun blood red and throwing weather systems around the planet into chaos for years. Inhalation of the gas is thought to have killed tens of thousands of Europeans...
...But history shows us that with the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, the nearby Katla volcano usually follows, and more violently. If that happens, it may be time to break out the breathing masks." ...(Cont.)
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