Abstract
The primary volcano hazard in Alaska is airborne ash, which endangers aircraft flying the busy North Pacific air routes and consequently affects global commerce. Downwind ashfall is also a significant threat to commerce, transportation and day-to-day activities in nearby Alaska communities. A web-enabled database, Is Ash Falling? has been developed to collect ashfall observations and encourage sample collections from the public during eruptions, enabling volcano observatory staff to concentrate on eruption response. Knowing the locations of filed ashfall reports improves public ashfall warnings and forecasts by providing on-the-ground checks for ash dispersion and fallout computer models and satellite imagery interpretation. Reports of ashfall are shared with emergency management agencies and the wider public. These reports also give scientists a more complete record of the amount, duration and other conditions of ashfall.
Highlights
As a result of its fine-grained abrasive character and widespread distribution by wind, volcanic ash is a major hazard to aviation while ash fallout to the ground can pose significant hazards to flora, fauna, and infrastructure (Casadevall 1994)
The Observatory’s experience When a user clicks the “send ash report” button, the data are entered into our database, location information is geocoded, Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO)’s internal review map, .csv, and .html reports are updated, and a notification email and text message is sent to designated AVO staff members
How the ashfall reporting database is used in eruption response With the ashfall database, AVO staff condenses and summarize the various ashfall reports and forward information on to other agencies, emergency managers, and the wider public
Summary
As a result of its fine-grained abrasive character and widespread distribution by wind, volcanic ash is a major hazard to aviation while ash fallout to the ground can pose significant hazards to flora, fauna, and infrastructure (Casadevall 1994). Free-text field for AVO staff to associate user’s ashfall report with the time of a specific explosive event Free-text field for user to report any additional information on ashfall to AVO
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