Volcanic Ash Forecast Transport And Dispersion (VAFTAD) Model

Abstract

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) has developed a Volcanic Ash Forecast Transport And Dispersion (VAFTAD) model for emergency response use focusing on hazards to aircraft flight operations. The model is run on a workstation at ARL. Meteorological input for the model is automatically downloaded from the NOAA National Meteorological Center (NMC) twice-daily forecast model runs to ARL. Additional input for VAFTAD regarding the volcanic eruption is supplied by the user guided by monitor prompts. The model calculates transport and dispersion of volcanic ash from an initial ash cloud that has reached its maximum height within 3 h of eruption time. The model assumes that spherical ash particles of diameters ranging from 0.3 to 30 µm are distributed throughout the initial cloud with a particle number distribution based on Mount St. Helens and Redoubt Volcano eruptions. Particles are advected horizontally and vertically by the winds and fall according to Stokes's law with a slip correction. A bivariate-normal distribution is used for horizontally diffusing the cloud and determining ash concentrations. Model output gives maps with symbols representing relative concentrations in three flight layers, and throughout the entire ash cloud, for sequential 6- and 12-h time intervals. A verification program for VAFTAD has been started. Results subjectively comparing model ash cloud forecasts with satellite imagery for three separate 1992 eruptions of Mount Spurr in Alaska have been most encouraging.