How To Use The Google Earth Files
Since I created the Google Earth KML files the most commonly posed question is how exactly to use them.
Downloading
The first thing is to download the KML file itself by following the KML File link here or near the bottom of the menu on the left hand side of this page, you will need to know where you have saved the file so either specify a sensible location if asked or find out where your browser has saved the file before going any further.
Opening The File In Google Earth
Then from within Google Earth choose file, open and select the file you downloaded in the previous step.
What Will I See?
If all goes well you should be presented with at least an Icon of a Volcano located somewhere near where you expected it to be, for the current Icelandic volcano activity looking in Iceland is a good start point.
You shoud find if there is any Volcanic ash observed that the area it is in has been plotted for you on the globe. Although there are four 6 hour periods in each Advisory only the first one is drawn at startup to prevent the image looking like a cat just threw up on the Globe.
If there is no ash observed but there is some forecast (quite how this could happen I cannot imagine but who knows) you will see nothing.
By clicking on the checkboxes next to the folder names in My Temporary Places in Google Earth you can look forward to the +6, +12, and +18hr forecasts and see where the Ash cloud is predicted to be during those periods.
Using the KML File in Google Maps
It is possible to use the KML file Google Maps by typing the URL of the KML file 'http://www.ashtam.co.uk:80/VACloud.KML' into the Search Maps Text Box and clicking Search Maps, or by following this link to Google Maps and the KML file.