Agencies meet this week for volcanic ash response plan

Representatives of various federal local agencies will convene beginning tomorrow in a workshop that seeks to develop an operating plan for volcanic ash hazards to aviation in the CNMI.

Sponsored by the Emergency Management Office, the workshop will be held at the Aqua Resort Club from Wednesday to Friday.

EMO director Rudolfo Pua said about 10 representatives from the U.S. Geological Survey, Federal Aviation Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, and the Air Force Weather Agency, among others, would attend the event.

They include USGS Volcano Hazards program coordinator James Quick and FAA’s Steven Albersheim, U.S. representative to the International Airways Volcano Watch Operations Group, and scientists from other agencies.

According to Pua, the effort would be the first time that federal agencies would pool efforts for a volcanic ash response plan for the CNMI.

The event comes in the heels of the CNMI’s efforts to obtain funding for volcano hazard assessment and the installation of early warning devices in the CNMI.

In a recent report, the USGS said that majority of 13 Northern Marianas volcanoes have no real-time ground-based monitoring at all, despite its assessment that at least four of them pose high threat to aviation and ground safety. The USGS has listed eight CNMI volcanoes as high priority targets for monitoring improvement.

Among the four volcanoes that are considered high threat, the government only has ground-based monitoring capability on Anatahan, where the only functional seismic station recently bogged down, necessitating repair work. The Emergency Management Office said it has restored monitoring on that island.

The three other high-threat volcanoes in Pagan, Alamagan and Agrigan have zero real-time, ground-based monitoring. Based on required monitoring level for high-threat volcanoes, about 12 to 20 stations should be installed within 20 kilometers of the volcano’s vent, among other sensors.

With some 25,000 flights flying over CNMI airspace in a year, the USGS said the islands’ volcanoes pose great risk to air traffic, where more than one million commercial aircraft pass through yearly.

Volcanic ash threatens jets and aircraft in the air, as it forms deposit in engines, restricts airflow, and clogs fuel nozzles. Minute particles of volcanic ash also contaminate aircraft’s ventilation, lubrication, hydraulic and electronic systems. They cause erosion and pitting of leading edges of windshields and landing lights, as well as erosion of compressor blades.