Goals

The Ash-RESILIENCE project aims to:

• effectively improve and upgrade the existing research infrastructure devoted to monitoring and forecasting volcanic ash clouds in atmosphere,
• provide different tools to help mitigating the effects of tephra fallout in the metropolitan areas of Catania and Napoli, integrating models, observations, and best practices.

Strategy

The strategy we have proposed for the project is based on 3 fundamental elements that are and must be synergistically correlated each other to achieve the goals of the project, namely:

1) INGV expertise and experience

On the problem of tephra dispersal and impact of airborne volcanic ash, involved in several national and international scientific research projects, INGV encompasses:

• Air-borne, air-space, field data acquisition;
• Development of eruption column and tephra transport models;
• Data assimilation to characterize the source conditions in VATDMs.

2) Using Etna as a natural open-volcano laboratory

The frequent ash emissions of the last decade at Etna suggest to consider them no longer as an emergency, but as an ordinary situation, requiring accurate knowledge of:

• Tephra fallout effects on local communities and infrastructures (aviation, road traffic, visibility, tephra fall roofs damages, injuries to people, effects to human health);
• Actions for risk mitigations.

3) Development of new ICT

Integrated system, inspired by Smart Community concept, based on a multidisciplinary approach able to integrate the activity of monitoring and forecasting the transport of volcanic clouds in the atmosphere, together with the management of the criticalities related to the impact in the two metropolitan areas:

• Best practises to improve the resilience of communities to volcanic ash fall;
• Tools for the management of emergencies caused by tephra fallout.