Wellington VAAC Operations during the 2011 Puyehue-Cordon Caulle event Marcel Roux Manager, Wellington VAAC Meteorological Service of New Zealand Ltd

Focus Areas Ash detection Data exchange, collaboration and co- ordination Confidence levels on the Volcanic Ash Graphic Image Source: rology-terms/volcanic-ash1.htm rology-terms/volcanic-ash1.htm

Ash Detection Satellite Imagery – Infra-red and visible – Sulphur Dioxide imagery – Laser-radar imagery – Darwin VAAC Image Source: edia_gallery.php edia_gallery.php

Ash Detection Pilot Reports of Ash or No Ash – Routine receipt across NZ and between Australia and NZ. – Reports grounding flight operations

Ceilometer and LIDAR CL31 – ceilometer on certain of MetService’s AWSs 2 CL viewing licences. – 17 locations around NZ. NIWA operated LIDAR, located in Lauder Images Copyright Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited 2012

Pilot Reports Evidence of ash and no ash in satellite imagery Conflicting Pilot Reports – NO ASH and ASH reports over similar flight routes. Image Source: argentina/

MTSAT Imagery MTSAT imagery courtesy Japan Meteorological Agency 11 June UTC

MODIS Imagery Ash

Data Exchange, collaboration and co-ordination Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Darwin VAAC Airways Corporation NZ Air New Zealand Flight Dispatch

Data Exchange, collaboration and co-ordination

Consistency

Possible VAG Confidence Levels Confidence in the position of lateral boundaries of ash cloud – High = Black – Medium = Blue – Low = Red Same technique could be used to assess confidence in the vertical extent

Confidence of Vertical Extent Objective confidence levels – IR Temp and Sounding vs Lidar, Radar and PIREP – Amount of consistent observations Image Copyright Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited 2012 Image Courtesy of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research

Example of Confidence Technique

Example Confidence Chart