European Volcano Observatory Space Services (EVOSS) a GMES downstream service for volcanic hazard monitoring

Volcanic hazards are of major national and international importance, affecting many regions of the globe and potentially having an impact on people both on the ground and in transit in the air. As an example, the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption affected 16,000 of 22,000 flights per day in Europe (a total of 95,000 flights were cancelled by 21st April) and the international airline industry lost approximately £130 million of revenue per day. This event highlighted the importance of sustained and quantitative monitoring of volcanic unrest. A GMES ‘Downstream’ Service project called EVOSS (European Volcano Observatory Space Services) is developing a portfolio of services aimed at robust volcanic hazard monitoring. Crucially, EVOSS is being driven by the needs of the End Users rather than a technology push for space-borne technologies. The End Users include the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center of Toulouse as well as the Volcano Observatories of Arta (Djibouti), Dodoma (Tanzania), Goma (Congo), Moroni (Comoros), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Montserrat, Seismic Research Centre (UWI) and IMO Iceland. EVOSS is a three-year project that began in March 2010. Its spatial coverage corresponds with the METEOSAT full-disk, centred on Africa and covering the volcanic regions of the Caribbean to the west and Eastern Africa and the Red Sea to the east. Nevertheless, the concept can be readily extended globally. The aim is to provide three services: Thermal Anomalies, Volcanic Emissions (including SO2 and ash) and Ground Deformation products. The first two will be provided in near-real-time while the third will be delivered following an event. Building on projects such as GLOBVOLCANO and PROMOTE, the EVOSS international consortium was brought together by six Institutional End Users that have responsibility for volcano observatories and observation services spread across eleven volcanic areas worldwide, and experienced in the objective technical needs of managing major, local or distant volcanic unrest. The products come from a wide range of sensors including SEVIRI (thermal anomalies), COSMO-SkyMed, Radarsat-2 and TerraSAR-X (ground deformation) alongside SCIAMACHY, OMI, GOME-2, IASI and SEVIRI for the atmospheric products. These sensors were chosen for their ability to provide high-to-very-high revisits and multi-satellite observations. The data are subjected to systematic in-orbit (intersatellite) validation to minimise errors, while the results, associated with inherent quality/reliability indices, are delivered seamlessly to the End User. Furthermore, the concepts and services will be validated at upto four volcanic sites experiencing severe unrest, at least one explosive and one effusive. A component of the project also focuses on ensuring financial and technical sustainability of the EVOSS model.