Effects of volcanic ash fallout and resuspension events on aviation: the 2015 Calbuco eruption example

FLORENCIA RECKZIEGEL; EMILCE BUSTOS; MINGARI LEONARDO; BAEZ, WALTER ARIEL; ARNAU FOLCH; ROMERO JORGE; RÓDANO R; VILLAROSA GUSTAVO; J. G. VIRAMONTE; ESTELA COLLINI; OSORES SOLEDAD

Puerto varas

Congreso; Cities on Volcanoes 9; 2016

IAVCEI

Volcanic ash poses a serious risk on aerial navigation causing loss of visibility, slipperyrunways, disruption of communication and electric systems, and direct damage to airplane?sfuselage and turbines. The cancellation of flights and related indirect consequences can implymillionaire economic losses. In addition to syn-eruptive disruptions, ash resuspension eventscan occur sparsely for years after ash deposition causing also substantial impacts. For thisreason, resuspension events (not always synchronous with an eruption) are being a subject ofgrowing interest for some Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAAC), although forecasting ofresuspended ash clouds is mostly at a research level and not fully transferred into operationsyet. In this work we describe different aspects of the unexpected 2015 Calbuco eruption andits impacts on the fly schedule of AerolineasArgentinas-Austral airlines, who canceled 185flights between April 22 and May 6 as a consequence of the eruption. We coupled themeteorological Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF/ARW) model with the FALL3Ddispersal model for eruptive and resuspension processes to determine ash loadings on theground and ash concentrations at different flight levels. Then, we evaluate the impact on theaviation sector using dates, duration and location of ground traffic interruption, servicesinterruption, and flight cancellations. Finally, we show the importance of having a databasewith pre-defined volcanological parameters (particle grain size and properties, column height,discharge rate, etc) for early forecast of Andean volcanoes ash plumes. This is particularlycrucial for unexpected eruptions as occurred at Calbuco.