#arselectronicacenter

[tahuverian-blog]

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[sfu-linz-posts]

Studieren an der SFU Linz - neue Perspektiven Linz ist eine bunte Studentenstadt, die ein vielfältiges Freizeit- und Kulturangebot bietet - im Herzen Österreichs! #tb #arselectronicacenter #ausflug #science #ourstudentsrock #bestplacetostudy #psychology #psychotherapy #sfulinz (hier: Danube River, Linz, Austria) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuVzNwuBBvS/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=woiycm2gan59

[valenwien]

RGB Galore 🚦 #rgb #aec #arselectronica #donau #nibelungenbrücke #danube #linz #igerslinz #4020 #oö #upperaustria #led #bridge #reflection #lighting #nightshot #architecture #igersaustria #austria #arselectronicacenter (at Linz, Austria)

[earthstory]

Atmosphere sorts volcanic ash

This photo shows a high-magnification shot of the ash from the 2010 eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, taken by a scanning electron microscope.

The ash particles were produced by lava interacting with water from melting glaciers. The lava heated the water, causing steam explosions that ripped apart the lava into fragments. The end result of that process is reflected in this image by the angularity of the grains; they’re explosion shards.

If you look closely however you can see another important feature. Focus on the largest grain in the center and the large grain at the bottom-center. The grain at the center has a bit of fine dust on it, but it’s mostly glassy; the texture of the grain is smooth. Contrast that grain with the one below it; the grain at the bottom is full of crystals. Both shards came from the same eruption but they came from different parts of the magma chamber; one part was more crystalline and that property is preserved in the ash shards.

The Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud is famous for having shut down air travel over much of Europe for nearly a week, trapping millions of travelers. New research presented this week at the Goldschmidt Conference in Florence, Italy by researchers from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland suggests that the difference between these 2 grains has important implications for air travel.

There are 2 properties that vary between these grains as a consequence of the difference in crystallinity; density and melting point. Crystals are denser than glass, so the grain at the bottom is denser, and crystals also have a melting point that is hundreds of degrees higher than the glass transition temperature.

This ash was sampled very close to the volcano; as a consequence, the ash is still well mixed. Further away from the volcano however, density starts to matter. As the ash travels over the ocean and moves away, particles settle out. Density plays an important role in this process; the denser the particle, the more rapidly it settles out. The ash cloud that reached Europe, therefore, was different from the one just outside of Iceland; most of the dense, crystalline particles settled out close to the eruption site.

This change in ash composition has implications for air travel. If I’m understanding the aerospace engineering correctly, the crystalline particles are a greater threat to air travel because of the higher melting temperature; they penetrate into the hottest parts of a jet engine before melting, whereas the glassy ash begins flowing at much lower temperatures and thus can’t get into the engine interior.

This research implies that the ash clouds from eruptions like Eyjafjallajökull may become less hazardous as distance from the volcano increases. Future efforts to assess the hazard of ash clouds will need to take this variable into account in addition to properties like the particle density, grain size, and travel direction of those clouds. This is one property that might allow for safe air travel if the level of crystallinity can be verified to be low.

-JBB

Image credit: Ars Electronica Center http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronicacenter/4659518652/in/set-72157624096900675/

Press report: http://phys.org/news/2013-08-particles-icelandic-volcanic-ash-fell.html

Original Abstract: https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D8015915_67098536_6803015

[bloody-minded-unicorn]

Детки в текстурах застряли Reise ins Universum in 3-D. 16 mal 9 Meter großen, ultra-hochaufgelösten Bildern😍 #spannend #DeepSpace #ArsElectronicaCenter#Linz #Austria (в Ars Electronica)