Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

[D-Mack]

Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

The chaos and crisis caused by the Icelandic volcano is about to hit New York -- hard.
City officials are bracing for the loss of $250 million in tourism-related revenue as the ash clouds prevented nearly 12,000 European travelers from visiting New York over the weekend.
"The people we were expecting are not coming and not spending money at restaurants," said Marjan Inbar, a spokeswoman for the New York travel office NYC & Co.
"They're not shopping, not going to attractions," Inbar added.

..

International tourists make up only 20% of the visitors to New York, but account for 50% of tourism spending, city officials said.
The tourism agency estimates that for every 1,000 European visitors who cancel their trips, the city will lose out on $1.5 million in spending on hotels, restaurants and museums.

..

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...#ixzz0lXREWsuK

I was was expecting problems for the PIIGS but not for NY, and the article is missing that tourists from Asia are still coming, even the Russians are flying over the North Pole.

[GRG55]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

Also seem to have forgotten all the hotel and restaurant business from those that are stuck in NY at the moment and can't get back...

Let's see...$250 million...that's about 1.5% of the $16.2 B bonus pool that Goldman alone doled out for 2009. Small beans for the Big Apple...

[D-Mack]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

good for the laundromat

But there were a few financial bright spots: Some temporary New Yorkers settled into stylish accommodations.
"People are basically living here now, asking where they can buy some clothes for their kids and where they can go to do their own laundry," said Lia Leite of the Hotel Giraffe.

[don]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

I assume throwing convicted banksters into the volcano is not on the table.

[GRG55]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

I assume throwing convicted banksters into the volcano is not on the table.

Hmmm...that would seem to risk introducing toxic waste into the plume, and spreading it over large parts of the globe...:rolleyes:

[don]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

I thought of it more as a move forward on Cap & Trade.

[mooncliff]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

The biggest bangs on Earth.

http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/biggest-bangs

Atmospheric blocking is a concept worth knowing.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...l-warming.html

[GRG55]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

...Atmospheric blocking is a concept worth knowing.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...l-warming.html

Blame the volcano trouble on sun and global warming

Altered weather patterns may have made the disruption caused by volcanic ash from Iceland worse – and climate change could be partly to blame...

C'mon now. There must be a way to blame this on Goldman and the bank lobbyists...

[GRG55]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

Blame the volcano trouble on sun and global warming

Altered weather patterns may have made the disruption caused by volcanic ash from Iceland worse – and climate change could be partly to blame...

C'mon now. There must be a way to blame this on Goldman and the bank lobbyists...

I knew it! It's all Goldie's fault.

I expect them to plead the "just doing God's work" defense...

EU Sues Goldman Over Volcanic Ash Fallout


BRUSSELS—European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announced late Sunday that the European Union has filed suit against investment banking giant Goldman Sachs for the fallout of ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano. The volcanic ash, which has blanketed the skies over most of Europe for the last four days, has grounded almost all European air traffic, stranding travelers and disrupting economic activity throughout the European Union.

In a statement delivered in Romansh, the official EU language of the month, Barroso said, “We have uncovered evidence that this so-called ‘natural disaster’, which is costing the EU hundreds of millions of Euros, is in fact an Act of Goldman, and we intend to hold the Zionist-American cabal in charge of the firm accountable.” “First the profligate Americans drag the world into a near-depression and now they crap all this ash on us. Who the hell do they think they are?” added Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou from Athens, where he was chairing a conference on Greek sovereign debt entitled, “How American Speculators Forced Us to Cook the Books, Lie to Our European Partners, and Pretend We Don’t Need A Massive Bailout”.

The EU complaint alleges that Goldman operated a proprietary wind-blowing strategy to direct the volcano’s ash into Europe’s stratosphere...

...In a related development, the InterGovernmental Panel on Climate Change said today it is considering investigating Goldman’s role in climate change. “We’re going to get the documents, proceed cautiously, and determine precisely when Goldman started melting the Polar icecaps.”

[chr5648]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

I wonder how many CO2 credits Iceland will have to purchase to offest this volcano disaster?

I'm no expert but I bet this volcano has already put into the atmosphere a substantial amount of CO2 and other so called "pollutants" that would seriously challenge the whole climate change movement and their credibility.

Though, I truly hope we don't get fried this summer from all this dangerous CO2 entering the atmosphere.

[GRG55]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

Some excellent pictures here:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/201...on:twit:bigpic

[mooncliff]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

I wonder how many CO2 credits Iceland will have to purchase to offest this volcano disaster?

I'm no expert but I bet this volcano has already put into the atmosphere a substantial amount of CO2 and other so called "pollutants" that would seriously challenge the whole climate change movement and their credibility.

Though, I truly hope we don't get fried this summer from all this dangerous CO2 entering the atmosphere.

The change in CO2 is not the immediate concern; the change in albedo is. When you get sulfur particles in the upper atmosphere, the sky looks milky white and you cannot see where the Sun is. The sky looks like a uniformly illuminated white sheet of paper. I have seen this myself when El Chichon erupted in the early 80s. You cannot feel the heat of the Sun even at midday. Then, at night, instead of infrared radiation being able to escape into space, it is reflected back down to the ground, so normal cooling at night is disrupted. Since the distribution of the sulfur particles is not uniform, some places can have unusual blocking of radiation, whereas other areas are less affected. This can change circulation patterns, leading to severe changes in weather at a particular location. Evapotranspiration is also disrupted, and there can be less moisture in the atmosphere, resulting in less heat, resulting in, when the haze clears, sudden cooling, since water is also a greenhouse gas.

Here is what happened the last time there was a major eruption in Iceland... and that was a world without civil aviation. Note that it says that the effects lasted for years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...nch-revolution

[reallife]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

The current volcanic eruption in Iceland is small potatoes and not likely to have any effect on climate. It is ejecting ash to 40,000 feet but the ash isn't expected to hang up there very long. As for sulfur dioxide, this volcano is a very low sulfur emitter as volcanoes go. What sulfur there is isn't getting into the stratosphere anyway. For real insight on the weather and climate issues check out Cliff Mass's Weather blog: http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/

Relax. Have a homebrew!

[D-Mack]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

There was a short moment where they thought a second one has erupted (fault of the internets)

Rumours of second Icelandic volcano eruption turn out to be hot air

19 April 2010 18:39

Rumours that flooded the internet of a second volcanic eruption in Iceland have turned out to be false.

As European Union transport ministers agreed on Monday to gradually ease restrictions in place on European airspace, there were reports that a second Icelandic volcano, Hekla, had also erupted.

Links to a live webcam that was said to be pointed at Hekla appeared to show a plume of ash. But the webcam is now believed to have been turned to point at Eyjafjallajokull, whose eruption on 14th April has brought European aviation to a standstill.

Hekla is said to be Iceland's most active volcano, with over 20 recorded eruptions since the 9th century. The most recent eruption was in 2000 but it did not cause any great damage. The mountain is about 1491 m high (4890 ft).
http://www.businessandfinance.ie/cat...sp?itemID=1445

[don]

Re: Volcano update: NYC braced for $250M loss as tourists remain grounded in Europe

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano is unlikely to have any significant impact on climate but has caused a small fall in carbon emissions, experts say.


Although large eruptions such as Mount Pinatubo in 1991 can spew out enough material to shade and cool the planet, recent activity in Iceland is very small in comparison. The ash cloud has not reached the high atmosphere, where it would have the most effect, and it contains little sulphur, which forms reflective droplets of sulphuric acid. The World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva says any cooling effect from Eyjafjallajokull will be "very insignificant".


A larger effect on the atmosphere, though still small in global terms, comes from the mass-grounding of European flights over the past few days. According to the Environmental Transport Association, by the end of today the flight ban will have prevented the emission of some 2.8m tonnes of carbon dioxide since the first flights were grounded.


The volcanic eruption has released carbon dioxide, but the amount is dwarfed by the savings. Based on readings taken by scientists during the first phase of Eyjafjallajokull activity last month, the website Information is Beautiful calculated the volcano has emitted about 15,000 tonnes of CO2 each day. Worldwide, the US Geological Survey says volcanoes produce about 200m tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...rbon-emissions