The Bureau's new Graphical Volcanic Ash Advisory will help aircraft avoid hazardous volcanic ash such as that from the eruption of Mt Pago, Papua New Guinea in August 2002 where the ash cloud (centre) extended up to an altitude of around 6000 feet. Photo: Phil Marshall.

The Bureau is developing graphical maps and forecasts of volcanic ash hazards to aircraft. They will replace complicated textual information. The Graphical Volcanic Ash Advisory will show the area of observed hazardous volcanic ash, and also show its predicted location in 6 and 12 hours.

After serious aircraft incidents in 1982 involving airborne volcanic ash, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), cooperated with national and other international organisations to set standards and practices for reporting and warning of volcanic ash - the IAVW (ICAO International Airways Volcano Watch).

The Bureau's Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, one of nine such centres around the world, covers volcanic activity in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and part of the Philippines. It combines satellite information, ground reports from vulcanological agencies, pilot reports, meteorological knowledge and numerical models to track and forecast ash movements, so aircraft can avoid the threat.