Interactive simulation of plume and pyroclastic volcanic ejections

Abstract

We propose an interactive animation method for the ejection of gas and ashes mixtures in volcano eruption. Our novel, layered solution combines a coarse-grain, physically-based simulation of the ejection dynamics with a consistent, procedural animation of multi-resolution details. We show that this layered model can be used to capture the two main types of ejection, namely ascending plume columns composed of rapidly rising gas carrying ash which progressively entrains more air, and pyroclastic flows which descend the slopes of the volcano depositing ash, ultimately leading to smaller plumes along their way. We validate the large-scale consistency of our model through comparison with geoscience data, and discuss both real-time visualization and off-line, realistic rendering.