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Discover Iceland's unique volcanic system and the history of volcanic eruptions in the country. Learn about the contingency plans, exercises, and challenges faced by authorities and aviation industry in dealing with volcanic ash clouds.
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Living with volcanos Sigurleifur Kristjansson Isavia Iceland
Volcanos in Iceland Total number of eruptions in Iceland since the year 1900 are at least 48 in 14 different volcanos Some have been dormant for hundreds or even thousands of years and then – Surprise – eruption outside your window The volcanos are of a different type some produce ash others mainly lava and very little ash
Eruptions since 1900Total 48 eruptions Grímsvötn – 1902, 1922, 1933, 1934, 1938, 1945, 1954, 1983, 1998, 2004 Krafla – 1975, 1977 x2, 1980 x 3, 1981 x 2, 1984 Askja – 1921, 1922, 1923 x 2, 1924, 1927, 1929, 1961 Hekla – 1947, 1970, 1980, 1981, 1991, 2000 Þórðarhyrna - 1903, 1910 East of Hekla - 1913 Katla - 1918 Southwest of Iceland - 1926 Surtsey/Syrtlingur - 1963-1967 Underwater eruption 5 KM offshore from the south coast – 1973 Heimaey - 1973 Gjálp - 1996 Fimmvorduhals – 2010 Eyjafjallajokull – 2010
History Icelandic Contingency plan 1997. The baseline was. Keep it simple. Was consider to ease and harmonize the operations. Controllers needed guidelines and not only use their best judgment.
History Doc 9691 Manual on Volcanic Ash, Radioactive Material and Toxic Chemical Clouds Doc 9766 Handbook on the International Airways Volcano Watch (IAVW) Alaskan Volcanic Ash contingency plan ICAO Annex 3
History Following the creation of the Icelandic Contingency plan a bilateral plan between Iceland and UK was created That plan is the base for the EUR/NAT plan Development of the EUR/NAT VA contingency plans was initated after the eruption in Grimsvotn in November 2004. The forecast distribution of the ash reached as far east as Mongolia There was a huge difference in how the ash cloud was handled both by ANSP´s MET offices and Aircraft Operators
History In 1999 a study was run by Isavia on behalf of ICAO NAT SPG to see the effect of eruption in Katla on NAT traffic One year real MET data was used to calculate effect In february 2000 Hekla erupted and kind of validated our results
Contingency plan • 3 Phased • Alert phase • Mainly used at the source of eruption • Reactive phase • Inial actions • Proactive phase • Everybody settled in
Contingency plan • Difference close to the volcano • The ashcloud very concentraded • No need for additional buffer • The initial 120 NM buffer zone ensures 1 hour clearance • Downwind • Ashcloud spreads • Buffer??
Fimmvorduhals Erupted on March 21st and that lasted until April 12th This eruption initially disrupted traffic to and from Iceland due to lack of observations Apart from that this was a tourist attraction and good exercise for the following event – the eruption in Eyjafjallajokull Access to the eruption site was easy. One restaurant set up table close to the lava flew people in helecopters to the site and cooked using the hot lava as a stove.
Katla - Eyjafjallajokull Katla Eyjafjallajokull
Last eruptions Eyjafjallajokull erupted on 14th April and started its resting period on May 23rd. There are different views if the winds werefavorable or not. For Iceland the winds were favorable as 100 knots wind blew the ash shortest distance to the shoreline and affecting relatively few people living in Iceland. Europe on the other hand considers the winds very unfavorable Heavy ashfall was near the volcano with few meters of visibility Even though this had huge effect on air traffic I believe it has moved our knowledge and procedure forward. And remember this is rather small eruption.
Volume of ash 750 tons of Tephra and Ash per second. Reduced at later stages of the eruption to 10 to 50 tons per second. Reached close to 33.000 feet initially but then gradually lowered with intermittend increase. The fluctuation in the force of the eruption affected the forecast distribution
Satellite picture showing volcanic ash being blown towards Great Britain
Exercises Started with local exercises in Iceland 1996 involving only Isavia and Icelandic Met office The aim was to ensure that the communication channels would work Few days later an eruption started After the creation of the Icelandic VA contingency plan we reviewed all phone numbers and contact information, shortly thereafter an erution started.
Exercises After the creation of EUR and NAT VA contingency plans EANPG and NAT SPG decided that two Regional exercises should be run every year Initial interest was very limited from Europe and the participation in the exercises was limited as well Isavia, Icelandic MET office and London VAAC perform additional 4 exercises per year
Exercises Some og the ANSP´s that have participated in the Exercises have said that when the real thing happened they took the contingency plan and the reports from the exercises and were ready to meet the challenge. The contingency plan must be exercised in order to get every player up to speed in applying it and as well to evaluate it and improve it
Exercises Exercise Steering Group was established to plan and run the exercises. Exercise leaders chosen by those who exercise at each time The group meets at least twice annually to plan and debrief exercises and take the lessons learnt and if needed use those for a proposal for ammendment of the VA Contingency Plan
Crisis Committee Crisis committee was established to montitor the eruption and plan for the closure of Icelandic airports. Members from the Airlines, domestic and International, Airports, Police, Customs, Security, Met office, ICAA, Minestry of transport and ATM. The Airlines showed great flexibility and when Keflavik did close they moved their international operation to Akureyri. Icelandair moved their hub from Keflavik to Glasgow.
International airports Akureyri Egilsstadir Reykjavik Keflavik
Crisis Committee Equipment was transported to Akureyri to be able to serve the increased traffic. Egilsstadir was used at a intermediate parking spot while the parking at Akureyri was fully utilised. The Aircraft were then ferried to Akureyri to pick up passangers. Passangers were ferried by busses from Reykjavik to Akureyri. Trip takes 5 hours. Different view of Iceland.
Transatlantic traffic The airspace south of Iceland was closed due to the Volcanic Ash for several days. Traffic routed north of Iceland. There are no fixed route structure within Reykjavik CTA. The airspace is a free route airspace Temporary tracks were established to enable Reykjavik Centre to cope with the increased traffic. Previously maximum traffic had been around 500 aircraft but reached over 1000 during 24 hours.
Transatlantic traffic Normally we have 9 controllers on duty during dayshifts and 4 during nigthshifts at that time of the year total 13 controllers. But during this period up to 42 controllers were distributed over the day- and nightshifts. The centre was at the limit of its capacity as we only plan for the average traffic but not to staff for the maximum and not this kind of contingency as it would be very costly to staff for this kind of occurence at all times.
Living with volcanos There are several hazards to the environment when an eruption starts, and not only to aviation Some volcanos only produce lava and almost no ash Other create lot of ash, some as well can cause flooding. Icelandic Civil defence has plans for evacuation for those volcanos that are known to cause flooding Those plans are exercised regularily
Living with volcanos At the start of the eruptions this spring the area that could be affected if a big flood would happen was evacuated Some, but rather few, farms were evacuated as well due to the ash and the livestock moved to safety People living in the visinity of the most active volcanos are aware of the hazard and have decided to live with it
Heimaey 1973 Late at night eruption started in Heimaey just on the outskirt of the town Around 5000 inhabitants Fishing fleet was in the harbour Evacuation of the people started immediately during the night using the fishing fleet Evacuation of their belongins followed Several houses were destoyed by the eruption
Heimaey 1973 The lavaflow was controlled by pumping water on it Only one house had insurance policy covering volcanic eruption Ships and aircraft were used to transport people and belongings to the mainland of Iceland Only around 4000 people returned to live in Heimaey
