A New System for Publishing and

Archiving Volcano Hazard Information

Statements using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

Dina Y. Venezky and Seth Snedigar

USGS VHT and AVO ADGGS

The Volcano Hazards Program is responsible for monitoring all US

volcanoes and issuing timely forecasts of

volcanic hazard

Volcano Hazards Program comprises 5

Volcano Observatories and other major partners

LVO - Long Valley, California

• Caldera formed ~760,000 ka• Most recent eruption ~250 yrs ago• > 3 M visitors / year• Several deaths this year due to CO2

YVO - Yellowstone, WY

• Three caldera forming eruptions (2.1 Ma,1.3 Ma, 0.64 Ma)

• Most recent eruption ~ 70 ka • < 3 M visitors / year• Active hydrothermal system

CVO - Cascades, Pacific Northwest

• Monitors the Cascades

• Mount St. Helens activity since 2004

• Mt. Rainier has > 1 M visitors / year and 3 M people live nearby

Currentlyerupting

HVO - Hawaii

• Kilauea: erupting since 1983• Mauna Loa: last erupted in 1984,

– Increased signs of unrest since 2002

• > 1 M visitors / year

Currentlyerupting

AVO - Alaska

• Monitors > 20 volcanoes• Volcano accessibility challenges• Ash is dangerous to aviation

– 1989 KLM 747 lost power– Regained power after descending out of

cloud

• > 4 M airplane passengers / year

Currentlyerupting

We monitor volcanoes remotely

Earthquake Occurs on Little

Sitkin

Received on Amchitka

Downlink in Palmer

Processing and Automatic Analysis

Scientific Analysis

43

2

1

We record an event…

Now what?

Small remote earthquake information is logged

More populated centers release daily updates

One small earthquake (M=0.8) in the Long Valley caldera region since the last update on May 1.

Long Valley Daily Update issued 10:57:32 AM on May 2, 2006 - Color Code GREEN

Less populated areas release updates for elevated activity

Augustine volcano has entered a period of repetitive explosive eruptions.

• Timing of eruptive events• Hazards (example, lahar)• Height of ash cloud• Ash fall area

Multiple stakeholders determine response

Media

FAANWS

Update frequency differs among observatories

• LVO - daily• AVO - daily (elevated color

code) weekly (monitored)

• YVO - monthly• HVO - daily (Kilauea)

weekly (Mauna Loa)

• CVO - daily (MSH)

• CNMI - weekly (Anatahan)

As needed for new events

CAP is an XML based universal format

• Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) created for exchanging response information

• RSS Feed

• Bridges communication gap among agencies at all levels

• One message disseminated over multiple warning systems

CAP language created for generic disaster scenarios

• Urgency - Immediate, Expected, Future, Past, Unknown

• Severity - Extreme, Severe, Moderate, Minor, Unknown

• Certainty - (Observed) Very Likely, Likely, Possible, Unlikely, Unknown

We need to fit volcanic events into CAP language

We created a customizable and flexible system

• Simple form• Observatories have

customized front page• Data pulled from MySQL

tables using PHP• Observatory name

triggers scripts on all common pages

Event vocabulary developed to supplement CAP information

How do you translate non standard event descriptions into standard keywords?

Event: Seismicity, Deformation, Thermal, Gas Emission, Volcanic Activity

Dim glow?

Vog?

No mention?

One form multiple outputs

• Inserts into archive• Sends to DMIS• Sends email• Creates RSS feed• Posts on websites

Subscribe to our RSS feeds

Challenges

• Different volcanoes– Types– Accessibility– Densities of

networks

• Different audiences– Airlines (FAA / NWS)– Land developers /

Skiers

• Limited resources

Our new system creates and archives alerts

• Used by program• Refining code, use, and

process• Revising websites to

supplement information