科学家预测冰岛火山喷发还将继续

The giant cloud of volcanic ash covering much of Europe this morning and now stretches as far south as Italy, east into Russia. Aviation officials say that as many as six million people could be affected worldwide, and could cost the airlines one billion dollars if the shutdown continues through tomorrow. And this morning scientists in Iceland are getting their first clear look at volcano that started at all. Our Neal Karlinsky is there.

Good morning, Neal.

Bill, good morning. From Iceland where conditions are really deteriorating, the winds have shifted. And there are now raining down ash over much of the area we spent time in yesterday. We've collected up a sample, and you can see how thickened, unforgiving it is. That's what's raining down on the farm lands over there. This morning we were able to get up in a helicopter. You can see some exclusive footage looking down into the eruption. This is important because this is the first clear day scientists have had since the eruption began. And this will help them they say, determine how much longer the eruption might keep on going. They say they can get a look at the glacier. The glacier, the ice that's melting because of this eruption. They say that is the fuel for this. They can determine based on what they see today, they hope, how much is melted and how much is left to go. It's important they say because if there is still a lot of glacier left, the eruption will have a lot fuel to keep on going for many days. It’s the steam coming off that glacier that's creating the huge plumes that are raining down across Europe. So they are hoping to get a look in there. And if it looks like a lot of the glacier has melted, that will be good news because it could mean that the eruption could end sometime soon.