Aviation
Volcanic
ash
poses a widespread, frequent hazard to safe and efficient air travel.
-
Thousands of commercial flights occur daily along the many major
air routes that overlie the world's volcanically active regions,
and volcanic
ash
is present in the atmosphere at flight altitudes virtually every
day somewhere around the world.
-
Numerous encounters of aircraft with
ash
clouds have demonstrated the range of damage that can result from
entry of ash particles into a jet engine, even to the point of
engine shutdown during flight.
-
Major economic and transportation disruptions can occur when
airports are closed and flights are cancelled or rerouted to avoid
ash
in airspace, as a large part of the world experienced during the
2010 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano.
These adverse effects on aviation can be mitigated.
-
A globally coordinated system of eruption reporting and
ash
cloud detection and forecasting is in place to warn pilots,
dispatchers, air-traffic managers, and aviation meteorologists
about the whereabouts of potentially hazardous ash clouds.
-
Procedures have been identified to prepare for and recover from
ashfall at airports.
See Also: