Volcanic Ash Coordination Tool (VACT)Volcanic ash is a severe hazard to aviation because it causes engines and critical instruments to fail. Several passenger aircraft have come very close to crashing after encountering ash. Aircraft have suffered $250B in damage during the past 20 years. An analysis of the operational response to the Mt Cleveland (AK) eruption in 2001 has shown that ash forecasts for adjacent Flight Information Regions were not consistent. VACT has much potential to help remedy similar problems because VACT will enables forecasters to simultaneously view identical displays of meteorological information and collaborate in real-time to generate fully-consistent time-critical advisories and forecasts for ash We have recently implemented VACT at three operational offices in Alaska for initial testing: Anchorage Center Weather Service Unit, Alaska Aviation Weather Unit, and Alaska Volcano Observatory. |