When I heard yesterday that a volcano in Iceland had erupted and that airports across Europe were closed I thought it was a joke. But unfortunately it wasn’t. The volcano, Eyjafjallajökull (no that’s not misspelled), sent ash out into the sky for miles.

The ash apparently creates a dangerous condition for planes, and so most airports across Europe grounded flights, which is continuing today. Calling the travel situation “chaos,” the NY Times reports that the domino effect of these closures may disrupt travel for weeks.

If you’re interested to see satellite images of the volcanic ash in the atmosphere  you can now do so on Google earth, courtesy of NASA satellite imagery:

Related Topics: Google: Earth | Google: Maps & Local

About The Author: Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog Screenwerk, about SoLoMo issues and connecting the dots between online and offline. He also posts at Internet2Go, which is focused on the mobile Internet. Follow him @gsterling. See more articles by Greg Sterling