火山噴火航空機事故防止の取組と大気火山灰濃度の航空機観測研究

抄録

Abstract Volcanic ash clouds potentially cause damage to aircraft engines. Especially, glassy materials contained in volcanic ash could cause a serious damage. After the 1970s, incidents of ash-related aircraft damage rapidly increased. A significant example is the incident that engines of Boeing 747 was shut down when it flew in a volcanic ash cloud from Mt. Galunggung, Indonesia in 1982. The pilot was unconscious of the ash cloud. In order to prevent such incidents, a world-wide volcanic advisory system was developed. This system has nine Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAACs) in the world and each VAAC monitors volcanic eruptions and provides information concerning the forecasting of movement of volcanic ash clouds over its responsible region. The Tokyo VAAC is in charge of the East Asia and the Northwest Pacific region. The prediction of ash dispersal is calculated using numerical models, however, the precision tends to be overestimation. This could result in excessive regulation of aviation and unnecessary enormous economic loss. Although Japan is a volcanic country, there is no combination system of in-situ monitoring and aviation management which Europe already has. Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University has started airborne ash measurement study for Mt. Sakurajima in cooperation with European scientists, aiming at the establishment of a monitoring and prediction system for assisting reasonable aviation management.