Off The Shelf Maps Help Mitigate Volcanic Hazards January 26, 2009
Posted by bahadirkhan in English, Haber (News).Tags: Geographical Information System (GIS), Shelf Maps, U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory
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When volcanoes erupt, pinpointing the regions at high risk for lethal hazards and deciding whether or not to evacuate a resistant population comprise the most difficult problems faced by hazards managers. Now a team of volcanologists has a program that maps potential problem areas quickly, taking much of the guesswork out of decision making and evacuations.
“We wanted to be able to predict the areas affected by pyroclastic flows from volcanoes,” said Christina Widiwijayanti, post-doctoral fellow in geosciences. “Pyroclastic flows and surges are the phenomena that kill most people when volcanoes erupt.”
A pyroclastic flow consists of hot rocks, ash and superheated gases that rapidly flow down from the area of dome collapse on a volcano. Pyroclastic surges are similar, but less dense. They are a kind of hot ash hurricane that can escape the confines of river valleys. Both types of currents are dangerous and frequently lethal.
“In many volcanic crises, a hazard map for pyroclastic flows and surges is sorely needed, but limited time, exposures or safety aspects may preclude fieldwork, and insufficient computational time or baseline data may be available for adequately reliable dynamic simulations of future pyroclastic flow or surge events,” the researchers note in a paper published in the Bulletin of Volcanology, Online First.
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