International collaboration between Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers: Geospatially enabled tools to ensure forecast harmonization across global air routes
Abstract
Volcanic plumes and drifting ash clouds pose a risk to flight operations somewhere across the globe every day. Airborne ash plumes pose a significant hazard to aircraft and timely and accurate forecasts greatly help mitigate the risk of an encounter. The world's nine (9) Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAACs) provide products and services to address the volcanic ash hazard to aviation. These nine centers are operated by the meteorological authority within the state in which they are located. Each VAAC has its unique set of tools and procedures on how the data will be captured, displayed, analyzed and turned into a suite of products. The end products (e.g. Volcanic Ash Advisories (VAA) and Volcanic Ash Graphic (VAG)) are standardized through the International Civil Aviation Organization's International Airways Volcano Watch Operations Group (ICAO IAVWOPSG). Improvements in methods of collaboration between the VAACs are needed to allow for a seamless global harmonization of volcanic ash products. A geospatially enabled tool would allow for a common operating platform, data sharing, and situational awareness. The North American VAACs have been testing a capability to provide this environment to make forecast collaboration simple across the globe. This presentation highlights work that has been done to demonstrate this capability.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.A34E..06O
- Keywords:
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- 3399 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES General or miscellaneous;
- 8488 VOLCANOLOGY Volcanic hazards and risks;
- 4324 NATURAL HAZARDS Spatial decision support systems