Eyjafjallajökull grounds Europe

April 14, 2010

An Icelandic volcano with an unpronounceable name spewed a high-altitude ash cloud that drifted over Europe and grounded most commercial flights for a week, stranding an estimated ten million passengers worldwide. Travelers slept on airport floors, business meetings collapsed across the continent, and a civilization built on frictionless air travel rediscovered the existence of trains and the humbling power of unforgiving geology.