Abstract
Abstract. Volcanic eruptions are among the most jeopardizing natural events due to their potential impacts on life, assets, and the environment. In particular, atmospheric dispersal of volcanic tephra and aerosols during explosive eruptions poses a serious threat to life and has significant consequences for infrastructures and global aviation safety. The volcanic island of Jan Mayen, located in the North Atlantic under trans-continental air traffic routes, is considered the northernmost active volcanic area in the world with at least five eruptive periods recorded during the last 200 years. However, quantitative hazard assessments on the possible consequences for the air traffic of a future ash-forming eruption at Jan Mayen are nonexistent. This study presents the first comprehensive long-term volcanic hazard assessment for the volcanic island of Jan Mayen in terms of ash dispersal and concentration at different flight levels. In order to delve into the characterization and modeling of that potential impact, a probabilistic approach based on merging a large number of numerical simulations is adopted, varying the volcano's eruption source parameters (ESPs) and meteorological scenario. Each ESP value is randomly sampled following a continuous probability density function (PDF) based on the Jan Mayen geological record. Over 20 years of meteorological data is considered in order to explore the natural variability associated with weather conditions and is used to run thousands of simulations of the ash dispersal model FALL3D on a 2 km resolution grid. The simulated scenarios are combined to produce probability maps of airborne ash concentration, arrival time, and persistence of unfavorable conditions at flight levels 50 and 250 (FL050 and FL250). The resulting maps can serve as an aid during the development of civil protection strategies, to decision-makers and aviation stakeholders, in assessing and preventing the potential impact of a future ash-rich eruption at Jan Mayen.
Highlights
Along with earthquakes, tsunamis, and weather extremes, explosive volcanic activity is among the most threatening natural hazards, with the potential to contribute to global warming and environmental changes (Ward, 2015)
This paper presents the first comprehensive long-term probabilistic volcanic hazard assessment (PVHA) for the volcanic island Jan Mayen (JM) focused on the potential impact of the airborne tephra concentration on Arctic and North Atlantic air routes
Our objective is to show the usefulness of probabilistic volcanic hazard assessment in the framework of highperformance computing, evaluating the impact of lowprobability but high-consequence events on air traffic from a potential eruption at JM while quantifying how the eruption source parameters (ESPs) and wind patterns influence hazard and probability maps of ash dispersal and airborne tephra concentration
Summary
Tsunamis, and weather extremes, explosive volcanic activity is among the most threatening natural hazards, with the potential to contribute to global warming and environmental changes (Ward, 2015). Some recent examples of events leading to losses worth millions of US dollars due to air traffic disruption include the eruptions in Eyjafjallajökull (Iceland, 2010), Grímsvötn (Iceland, 2011), and Puyehue-Cordón Caulle (Chile, 2011) (Mazzocchi et al, 2010; Oxford-economics, 2010; Tesche et al, 2012; Karlsdóttir et al, 2012; Budd et al, 2011; Elissondo et al, 2016) These events were a stark reminder of the importance of volcanic hazard assessment and the related quantification of impacts of future eruptions, both essential tools to inform governments, aviation stakeholders, and society in general, contributing, in this way, to their preparedness. The first case is what we call long-term hazard assessment, usually intended for cost–benefit analysis, long-term planning, and mitigation action design (Marzocchi et al, 2006), whereas the second one is a short-term hazard assessment that eventually would become a more deterministic forecasting tool for supporting the definition of emergency procedures
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