Estimates put the number of Britons still stuck abroad at 35,000. However, new evidence shows there was no all-encompassing cloud and, where dust was present, it was often so thin that it posed no risk. The satellite images demonstrate that the skies were largely clear, which will not surprise the millions who enjoyed the fine, hot weather during the flight ban. Jim McKenna, the Civil Aviation Authority’s head of airworthiness, strategy and policy, admitted: ‘It’s obvious that at the start of this crisis there was a lack of definitive data. Read more and photographs: Dailymail.co.uk

Geology professor Spyros Pavlidis and his research team at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki have developed a procedure to assess the results of volcanic activity. This may provide an answer to the problems caused by the Iceland eruption.

The researchers submitted their findings to the Greek Education Ministry for inclusion in a European Union programme for funding research. As yet they have not been informed whether it has been approved.

Pavlidis and his team have been studying the volcano in the Aegean island of Santorini, which has remained inactive since 1610. By testing various models, they have developed a ‘volcanic danger estimation programme’ which, if augmented with other programmes from countries with experience of volcanic phenomena, could be used worldwide to prevent or minimise the repercussions.

According to Pavlidis, the Icelandic volcano eruption took Europe by surprise because currently no system in any country measures volcanic steam, smoke or ash in the way other pollutants are measured. He points out that volcanic ash varies from one volcano to another and sometimes even from one eruption to another in the same volcano.

“We could have been informed by our scientific colleagues in Iceland of the composition of the volcanic ash and with this specific programme we could ascertain the exact weight of the particles and, in combination with the prevailing climatic conditions, we could easily determine the direction of the volcanic ash, its speed and its density over specific areas at a specific time,” Pavlidis says.

“In other words, we would have been able to track it very closely and assess its potential danger at any given time at any given area. We could, in this way, inform in real time and with great reliability where flights could take place even within the volcanic nebula since we would have been able to assess the exact degree of danger at any given moment.”

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Pavlidis team work closely with several other universities in Greece as well as in Italy where geologists have a great deal of experience with volcanoes, and with the University of Hawaii, those in Cyprus and many more.

The programme was developed for Greece but Pavlidis and his team are confident that, given sufficient financial help and the assistance of other universities with an interest in this area, it could apply universally.

Pavlidis says that unfortunately expenditure on research in Greece is 0.54% of the country’s gross national product- the lowest in the EU. That is why his team is looking for finance from an EU source.

He estimated it would need EUR50,000 to develop the system – a small proportion of what the airlines lost in cancelled flights.

* Reports of how academics, conference organisers and universities were affected by the eruption are published in this week’s Uni-Lateral section while a story in our Science Scene section describes the reaction of vulcanologists to the Iceland saga. (Universityworldnews.com)

Airspace in Scotland is to open from 0700 tomorrow as dust from the Icelandic volcano ceases to affect UK airspace. Sky sources understand airspace in the Midlands will then reopen at 1200 and southern UK at 1800.

It’s understood that UK airports will then be allowed to conduct operations 24 hours a day until the flight situation returns to normal. It follows a dramatic reduction in the ash being thrown up by the Icelandic volcano. The Met Office has confirmed that: “eruption has virtually ceased with only small amounts of ash up to 6000 feet.” They have also confirmed that there is no sign of ash above 35000 feet.

British Airways carried out a test flight yesterday and says it has provided fresh evidence that blanket airspace restrictions are unnecessary and should be lifted. The airline’s chief executive Willie Walsh yesterday took a two-hour flight at 40,000ft which turned up no sign of damage to the aircraft or its engines. The results prompted BA to call on the Government urgently to adopt new policies which would allow airlines to resume flying.

But the BA findings contradicted information from military sources. A senior Western diplomat said several Nato F-16 fighter jets that flew through the ash cloud had suffered engine damage, saying glass-like deposits were found inside the planes’ engines. The BA experiment, however, will reinforce the case being made by commercial airlines to return to the skies. The crisis is estimated to be costing the European aviation industry more than £130m a day.

The leading Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports that a small plane has crashed because of the ashes but is yet to be confirmed.