Volcanic Ash Forecast Transport And Dispersion (VAFTAD) Model

Abstract

Abstract The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) has developed a Volcanic Ash Forecast Transport And Dispersion (VAFTAD) model for emergency response use focusing on hazards to aircraft flight operations. The model is run on a workstation at ARL. Meteorological input for the model is automatically downloaded from the NOAA National Meteorological Center (NMC) twice-daily forecast model runs to ARL. Additional input for VAFTAD regarding the volcanic eruption is supplied by the user guided by monitor prompts. The model calculates transport and dispersion of volcanic ash from an initial ash cloud that has reached its maximum height within 3 h of eruption time. The model assumes that spherical ash particles of diameters ranging from 0.3 to 30 µm are distributed throughout the initial cloud with a particle number distribution based on Mount St. Helens and Redoubt Volcano eruptions. Particles are advected horizontally and vertically by the winds and fall accordin...