The Soil Conservation Service of Iceland is conducting research to try to determine the impact of ash on young forests in Iceland, ruv.is reports.
The eruption in Eyjafjallajökull showed that birch forests were able to withstand significant amounts of ash but that undergrowth could suffer.
An experiment is currently being set up in a young birch forest at Hekla which simulates ashfall. The idea is to regularly cover the plants with ash and monitor their growth until 2016. The impact of the ash on other vegetation will also being measured.
