Volcanic Ash Warning System: Communicating and Transforming Earth Observation Data to Actionable Information. This poster was presented at the International Forum on Satellite Earth Observation for Geo-Hazard Risk Management, May 2012 in Santorini, Greece. http://www.int-eo-geo-hazard-forum-esa.org/

1. Communicating and Transforming Earth Observation Data to
Actionable Information for Volcanic Ash Warning Systems
B. L. Bye (bye@lilja.no), A. Durant (adu@nilu.no) & F. Prata (fpr@nilu.no)
BLB, NILU
Introduction Earth Observations to Operations
Eyjafjallajökull 2010
Earth observations represent an important element in
improving knowledge of hazards, risks and potential
disasters. This knowledge serves as basis for efficient
decision making, better mitigation and prepardness. It is
necessary and possible to facilitate more efficient
integration of Earth observations and scientific results in an
operative ash warning system. Results from ESA's SAVAA
project and GEO's general efforts to make data more
ESA Kristin Vogsfjord
accessible and interoperable are used as examples.
Ash warning system
Science and Earth Observations
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and
the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
(IUGG) jointly established the International Airways
Volcano Watch. It consists of 9 Volcanic Ash Advisory
Centers (VAACs) providing global coverage of ash
warnings through Volcanic Ash Significant Meteorological
Information (VA SIGMET) that is issued from
Meteorological Watch Offices (MWO) to National Civil
Aviation Authorities. This information is sent to national air
traffic controllers and finally reaches the end users – the
pilots and dispatchers who are responsible for
passenger safety.
ESA's SAVAA project has demonstrated
that information about the distribution,
composition and amount of volcanic ash
can be provided in a timely manner to
VAACs. This information can be
transmitted in-flight and will come in
addition to the pre-flight VA SIGMETs. The world is divided
into 9 VAACs.
Actionable
Volcanic Notice to Aviation (VONA), for the VAACs was information
established to integrate scientific data and information into the
warning system. The final information products reaching the end
users are so-called VA SIGMETs. (Volcanic Ash Significant
Meteorological Information).
Group on Earth Observations
The Group on Earth Observations is coordinating efforts to
build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems
(GEOSS) that will provide decision-support for a wide
variety of users.
A community of practice is a
user-led community of
stakeholders, from providers to
the final beneficiaries of EO
data and information, with a Community of Practice
common interest in specific
aspects of societal benefits to
be realized by GEOSS.
Kathrine Roede
GEO's Geohazards Community of Practice can be used to
Pilots go trough regulated and established
retrieve and analyse user requirements for ash warning routines, and receive reliable information
systems.
Bibliography
Conclusion such as VA SIGMETs before they make
their final decisions.
B. L. Bye, Multitasking in Academia. Effective combinations of research, education and public
outreach illustrated by a volcanic ash warning system, American Geophysical Union 2011
The current ash warning systems can be made faster and more homogeneous. It is easy to
Prata, A. J., 2008, Satellite detection of hazardous volcanic clouds and the risk to global air traffic, collect, process and transfer satellite, air-borne and in-situ data products to any VAAC. A
Natural Hazards, DOI 10.1007/s11069-008-9273-z
warning service can be set up to serve pilots by direct communication with the cockpit.
Training and institutional adaptation is necessary in order to fully exploit state-of-the-art
science and technology.
Acknowledgment. ESA provided funding for the Support to Aviation for Volcanic Ash Avoidance (SAVAA) project.
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