Volcanic Ash Advisory
Centers(VAACs)
VAACs were established in September 1995 in Darwin at a meeting
of the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO). At this meeting it was decided that in an
effort to ensure that volcanic cloud hazards were addressed there
must be an an interface between volcano observatories, meteorological
agencies and air traffic control centers. In order to meet their goal
they decided the world should be divided into different regions by
their volcanic activity and volcano observatories in the designated
regions would be in charge of keeping track of the activity in their
area by analyzing satellite imagery. VAACs are charged with providing
information about volcanic clouds to aircraft who are in flight or
planning flights. This information comes from volcano observatories,
from other pilots through PIREPs, from satellite observations and
from models of volcanic cloud trajectories that are based on winds at
various flight levels.
There are 9 VAACs around the world:
Area of
Coverage
Anchorage
VAAC Aleutian Islands and Alaska
Tokyo VAAC Kamchatka,
Kuriles, Japan
Darwin
VAAC Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and S. Philippines
Wellington
VAAC New Zealand and South East Pacific
Buenos Aires VAAC South
America S of Peru
Montreal
VAAC Canada Greenland and North Pole
London VAAC Iceland and
North Atlantic east of Greenland
Toulouse
VAAC Africa, Europe west of Urals, Middle East
Washington
VAAC USA, NW Pacific, Caribbean and Middle and
South America
N of Peru