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Residents and critical infrastructure in the nation’s six highest-risk volcanic areas—including the Northwest region of the United States-- will benefit from increased monitoring and analysis as a result of Recovery Act funds being channeled into volcano monitoring, Secretary Salazar announced today.
The U.S. Geological Survey is planning to use $15.2 million of its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to upgrade volcano monitoring and the analysis and distribution of eruption information at the five volcano observatories that cover Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii, the Northwest, California, as well as the network that covers the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
“These stimulus funds will not only create or preserve jobs, but also could very well preserve lives,” said Secretary Salazar. “The funds help protect both people on the ground as well as airline passengers flying over the eruption-prone regions. At the same time that the funds are helping public safety, they are also spurring scientific innovation with economic benefits.”
The most recent eruption of Mount St. Helens ended in 2008 without major damage or disruption, but Mount St. Helens or any of the other young Cascade Range volcanoes could awaken at any time. Work in the Cascades will emphasize three areas.
First, CVO will reorganize telemetry networks into a “backbone” telemetry system for the Cascade Range volcanoes, stretching from northern California to Washington. This will improve quality and quantity of monitoring data coming to the observatory, provide for resiliency of the system and allow future expansion of monitoring networks.
Second, CVO will acquire airborne Light Detection and Ranging Images, essentially high- precision laser-generated digital topographic maps, of the most dangerous volcanoes in the Cascades and their out-flowing drainages. Such maps are needed to accurately forecast paths of volcanic mudflows that can occur at any time, as well as lava and pyroclastic flows. They also can assist in geological mapping efforts, and provide a baseline for measuring changes in a volcano when an eruption occurs.
Third, CVO will work with partners to develop state-of-the-art multi-hazard risk and vulnerability assessments to aid in community planning and eruption response.
Work to be conducted with ARRA funds is divided into six projects, coinciding with the six high-risk volcanic areas in the United States. These allocations are $950,000 for the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, $7.56 million for the Alaska Volcano Observatory, $2.4 million for the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Washington state, $3.3 million for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, $200,000 for the Long Valley Observatory in California and $800,000 for upgrading networks in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.
The funds for all of the observatories will support universities and local government agencies as scientific partners in volcano observatory activities, as well as private sector companies that manufacture scientific instruments, provide aviation services, and supply computer expertise
The United States and its territories contain 169 volcanoes considered capable of erupting. One, Kilauea in Hawaii, has been erupting continuously for the past 26 years, at times inundating residential areas with lava and at other times requiring national park closures due to explosions and toxic gas.
Another, Redoubt Volcano in Alaska, shot ash clouds to heights of more than 50,000 feet several times this year. The three-month long eruption appears to have paused and may have ended, but not before severely disrupting aviation operations, repeatedly dusting Alaskan communities with ash, and forcing an oil storage facility to suspend operations.
The USGS volcano observatories warn of impending eruptions, track ongoing eruptions in real time, and assist communities and the flying public in minimizing their vulnerability to volcano hazards. Monitoring volcanoes is a diverse activity that requires networks of geophysical instruments on volcanoes transmitting data to observatories, coupled with the capabilities to detect ash, volcanic gas, and hot spots with satellite imagery; to measure gas and acquire thermal imagery from aircraft; and to understand past behavior of the volcanoes and what human activities and infrastructure are at risk.
Volcano monitoring is only effective if linked to rapid means for communication of hazard information to communities, businesses, government agencies, and the public. ARRA funds will be used to modernize instrumentation and information systems to state-of-the-art, providing the necessary tools to communicate hazard information quickly to those who need it.
CVO is assisted in volcano monitoring by the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network operated by the University of Washington
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