Support to Aviation Control Service

Jos van Geffen, Michel Van Roozendael, Isabelle De Smedt, Caroline Fayt (BIRA-IASB)

Walter Di Nicolantonio, Giovanni Ballista, Alessandra Cacciari (CGS)Pieter Valks, Diego Loyola, Thilo Erbetseder (DLR)

Ronald van der A (KNMI)

TEMIS User Workshop – 8-9 October 2007ESA/ESRIN, Frascati, Italy

Contents

• Background and Users of the Service• Structure of the Service• Examples• Concluding remarks

Eruption of the Grímsvötnvolcano on Iceland inNovember 2004; photoby Matthew J. Roberts

Volcanic eruptions and aviation

• Volcanic clouds can contain:– Rock fragments, fine particles (ash).– Corrosive gases (incl. SO2), water vapour.

• Hazard to aviation: ash (major) and SO2.• More than 90 aircraft damaged by ash clouds:

– At least 7 cases of in-flight loss of power.– Three 747’s lost all engines (Indonesia 1982, Alaska 1989).– Pinatubo: aircraft damaged > 1000km from eruption.

• On average 10 eruptions per year reach flight levels.• Economic cost estimation of US$ 250 Million between 1982-2000.• Avoidance of ash clouds is the only safe procedure for the aircraft.

sheet info: thanks to Claire Witham, UK Met Office / London VAAC

Aim and users of the service

The aim of the Support to Aviation Control Service (SACS) is todeliver in near-real-time data derived from satellite measurementsregarding SO2 and aerosol emissions possibly related to volcaniceruptions, and where possible to track volcanic plumes.

The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres (VAACs) are the official organisations to gather information on volcanic ash clouds and on the basis of that issue advices and alerts to air line and air traffic control organisations on the possible danger of volcanic clouds.

Notifications of “exceptional SO2 concentrations” and data from SACS can assist the VAACs with their task: to assess volcanic activity and if necessary to issue alerts to air traffic control and airline organisations.

Key users: the Toulouse and London VAACs.

The VAACs

The VAACs are part of an international systemset up by the International Civil AviationOrganization (ICAO) called the InternationalAirways Volcano Watch (IAVW), which wasfounded at an ICAO meeting in 1995.

VAAC responsibilities toaviation users include:• Utilise satellite data, pilot reports, etc. to detect and track ash clouds. • Use trajectory/dispersion models to forecast the motion of ash plumes.

Structure of the service

http://www.temis.nl/aviation/so2.php

Predefined regions

Default maps are madefor the world, plus:

• 42 volcano regions of 30 by 30 degrees

• 11 air quality regions of 40 by 40 degrees

Example: Southern Africa

Data available as:• Daily orbit coordinates• 1-day gridded data• 3-day composite• Monthly average

Example of a notification

SACS notification of exceptional SO2 concentration==================================================

Process date : 2007 08 27Process time : 06:30:01 CESTInstrument : SCIAMACHYNo. notices : 1

Alert notice : 1--------------------Volcano reg. : 26 Kurile IslandsVolcano reg. : 27 Kamchatka Peninsula http://www.oma.be/BIRA-IASB/Molecules/SO2nrt/alert/?alert=2007...

Start date : 2007 08 27Start time : 00:25:42.712 UTCAver. long. : 156.4 deg.Aver. latit. : 55.0 deg.Aver. sza : 47.2 deg.Max. SO2 scd : 7.2 DU SO2 vcd @ max: 2.4 DU Cloud data : used for vcd

. . .

Example of a notification

The criteria for an alert are basedon the SO2 slant column values.

Reports mention activitiesof some volcanoes on theKamchatka Peninsula andon the Kuril Islands at theend of August:

SHIVELUCH 56.65°N, 161.36°E summit elev. 3,283 mKARYMSKY 54.05°N, 159.43°E summit elev. 1,536 mCHIKURACHKI 50.33°N, 155.46°E summit elev. 1,816 m

Piton de la Fournaise – SCIA

Piton de la Fournaise – OMI / GOME-2

Volcanic aerosols from SEVIRI

Etna on 14 July 2006 at 05h, 06h and 10h UTC (BTD technique)

Etna on 22 July 2006 at 05h, 06h and 10h UTC

Trajectory analysis

SO2 peak west of Hawaii :from Anatahan (788 m),emitted 4 days before?

Depending on the intitial height of the backward trajectories, the SO2 could have come from “anywhere” → must be careful !!

Eruption of Jebel at Tair (Yemen)

Eruption: evening of 30 Sept. 2007. SO2 alerts issued on 01 Oct. and later.Toulouse VAAC: no ash cloud visible.

3-km long island in the Red Sea; last eruption: 1883.

Eruption of Jebel at Tair (Yemen)

OMI – KNMI/NASA/NIVR

Eruption of Jebel at Tair (Yemen)

Recent web statistics

Sep | Oct

Sep | Oct

Concluding remarks

• The service is set up using SCIAMACHY data: suitable for testing.

• The processing and analysis works fine, though some problems remain, in particular retrieval at high solar zenith angle and artifacts due to the South Atlantic Anomaly.

• SO2 released by volcanic eruptions (and anthropogenic activities) clearly detected in several cases and alerts were sent.

• Experience of the key users so far is that the service does provide an additional source of information for the VAAC’s tasks, despite the poor geographic and temporal coverage of SCIAMACHY.

• Major improvements are expected once OMI and GOME-2 data is included, due to the high spacial resolution of OMI and because GOME-2 measures in the morning and OMI early afternoon.

http://www.temis.nl/aviation/so2.php