Volcanic ash plumes mostly tend to have an impact on the jet stream, the area in the atmosphere that aircraft are preferably flown in, according to volcanologist Marcus I Bursik’s research paper.
UB College of Arts and Sciences professsor Bursik told TerraDaily that ash plumes in the jet stream were a problem as modern transcontinental and transoceanic air routes were designed to leverage the jet stream’s power, saving time and fuel.
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The 2009 paper, “Volcanic plumes and wind: jet stream interaction examples and implications for air traffic” finds that the jet stream stops the plume from rising higher into the atmosphere.
“Because the jet stream causes the density of the plume to drop so fast, the plume’s ability to rise above it is halted, the jet stream caps the plume at a certain atmospheric level,” Bursik said.
New techniques capable of producing better estimates of where and when ash clouds from volcanoes will travel are being developed. Bursik plans to work on such a project to improve tracking estimates.
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By GlobalData
