Civil aviation management during explosive volcanic eruptions: A survey on the stakeholders' perspective on the use of tephra dispersal models

Impacts of explosive volcanic eruptions on civil aviation were reconsidered after the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption in Iceland, which caused unprecedented disruptions of air traffic operations in Europe. During and after the aviation breakdown of April-May 2010, communication between the involved stakeholders was recognized as a major concern. Due to the complexity and multidisciplinary nature of the topic, a great number of actors are involved, which often have little interaction outside these exceptional events. In this work, we aim at identifying the relationships between the stakeholders involved in aviation management during eruptions, as well as their needs and priorities. We perform an anonymous on-line survey, focused mainly on the use of tephra dispersal models for civil aviation purposes. We collect feedback on recent developments including our current impact assessment research, which produced a GIS-based software tool to estimate impacts on aviation based on tephra dispersal forecasts. Answers allow identifying stakeholders' requirements on ash dispersal forecasts and their use for aviation management purposes. We underline the main differences between three homogeneous groups (aviation managers and employees, modellers and field scientists, other stakeholders) and identify main end-user requirements for developing tools similar to ours. This work provides useful insights for the development of tools to support aviation stakeholders during volcanic eruptions. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.