© crown copyright met office london vaac the eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption
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© Crown copyright Met Office
London VAAC The Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption
© Crown copyright Met Office
ICAO IAVW
• London VAAC is the ICAO IAVW designated centre for volcanic eruptions in the North-East Atlantic
- Iceland falls within this area of responsibility
• ICAO Annex 3 briefly describes the responsibilities of a VAAC to include:
- Production of advisories detailing the spatial dispersion of VA
- Running (and/or utilisation of output from) NWP dispersion models
- Monitoring of observational data, especially satellite imagery for the presence of VA.
© Crown copyright Met Office
ICAO Annex 3 doesn’t…
• ICAO Annex 3 does not:
- Describe VA concentration threshold limits
- Describe VA observational network requirements.
LIDAR output
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The Eyjafjallajökull eruption
• ‘Smouldering’ for a few weeks
• Erupted to 35000 FT on 14th April for 30 hours
• VAAC Advisories of VA for large parts of northern Europe between 15th and 21st April
• Large areas of European airspace closed
• Met Office tasked from 20th April with producing supplementary (black/red) ash concentration charts by UK CAA following EU Transport Minister/Eurocontrol/EASA/engine manufacturer crisis meetings
• 21st April to 23rd May (eruption ‘paused’) occasional further incursions of low and ‘higher’ concentration ash over western Europe
- Intermittent and ‘less disruptive’ European airspace closures.
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Eyjafjallajökull eruption – Met Office response
• Continual constructive dialogue with UK CAA and UK NATS
• Coordination of European LIDAR observational availability
• Daily VAAC tele-conferences with European NMS during European VA episodes
• Enhanced VA research flight campaigns in coordination with DLR and DWD
• Enhanced coordination with Toulouse VAAC and IMO
• Close consultation with WMO, ICAO, EUMETNET
• Prioritisation of and attendance at numerous VA related meetings and workshops.
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Future Plans
• Continued quantitative assessment of ash forecasts against observations and development of implementation plans for improved monitoring systems
• Close collaboration with IMO to improve definition/calibration of volcanic source term (MoU signed end of May)
• Development of forecasts of SO2 and related pollutants
• Development of products which sample uncertainty in the volcanology and meteorology to enable better-informed risk assessments
• International VA collaboration and coordination.
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Eyjafjallajökull: ‘Unusual’ Volcano coupled with ‘Unfriendly’ Meteorology
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