The Anchorage VAAC is structured within the Alaska Aviation Weather Unit (AAWU) and has responsibility for the area of the Anchorage FIR. Operations are guided by the Alaska Interagency Operating Plan for Volcanic Ash Episodes. This plan establishes a close working relationship between the Anchorage VAAC and the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. Air Force, and the Alaska Division of Emergency Services, streamlines procedures, cooperation, and communication so that alerts to planes in flight are accomplished as quickly as possible.
A wide variety of resources are employed for the detection and alerting of volcanic eruptions and airborne volcanic ash. Multi-channel techniques to detect airborne ash are utilized on satellite imagery from both GOES and POES satellites. Displays from seven doppler radars located within Alaska are used to verify an eruption and to track volcanic ash in real time. Using a state of the art meteorological model data display system the VAAC can access data from a number of North American and European models. The PUFF volcanic ash dispersal model is run locally and can quickly provide short and long term forecasts of the volcanic ash track. The VAFTAD dispersal model, run in Washington, can be initiated from Anchorage.
The Anchorage VAAC issues both Alert and Watch Volcanic Ash Advisory Statements. The AAWU is an MWO and issues international SIGMETs for volcanic eruption and airborne volcanic ash. The VAAC also issues one time VAASs and SIGMETs for volcanic eruptions on the Kamchatka Peninsula and northern Kuril Islands of Russia and then passes responsibility off to the Tokyo VAAC.
Procedures have been established and tested so that resources and information can be shared, and alerts communicated rapidly between the neighboring VAACs at Washington D.C., Montreal and Tokyo and through AVO with the Kamchatka Emergency Volcano Response Team (KVERT) in Russia.
The 8th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology