Ash cloud obscures success of warning system
PhD student Carina Fearnley (Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre) says the disruption caused by Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano conceals a success story. ?The ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland continues to bring chaos to international travel. The eruption, which began on 14 April, shows no sign of diminishing. Scientists cannot forecast how long the eruption will last, but they note that the volcano's previous outburst lasted for more than a year between 1821 and 1823. The prospect of another long eruption has focused attention on economic gloom and despondency; passing virtually unnoticed is the fact that the system for warning about ash clouds has been an unqualified success. ?Most of Europe has little experience in dealing with ash clouds, so its response depends on guidelines that have been developed elsewhere. The warning and response procedures are part of international protocols that evolved following the encounter in 1982 between a British Airways Boeing 747 and an ash cloud from Mount Galunggung in Indonesia. ?The aircraft lost power to all four engines and dropped four and a half miles (almost 25,000 feet) in 16 minutes before they could be restarted. It was agreed by the aviation community that the only way to minimise the loss or damage of aircraft was to alert pilots in a timely manner to divert flights around ash clouds. The volcanic ash aviation warning system was born, and the fact that flights in Europe were halted before any damaging encounters with the Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud demonstrates how well the warning system has worked. 'So how does the warning system operate' Countries with volcanoes monitor volcanic activity via a dedicated observatory that uses a variety of techniques ?
