ABSTRACT
As mentioned in the introduction to this book, in April 2010 flights across Europe were grounded due to the prospect of an enormous spreading ash cloud caused by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull. Computer simulations depicted how the volcanic ash would likely disperse. The mathematical models used in these simulations, however, were not supplemented with actual samples of the ash concentrations in the region. The EU administration received widespread criticism for their blind trust in the images produced by the simulations, which not only lacked empirical validation but were based on controversial mathematical models (Gelernter 2010; Schäfer & Kessler 2013).
