Advances to jet engine operations developed from novel volcanic ash records
Ash transport and deposition data, quantified from lake and peatland sediment cores across Europe, enabled aircraft operators to change their risk assessments for low level ash clouds.
Issue
Volcanic eruptions emitting ash clouds pose significant hazards to jet aircraft. Historically (e.g. during the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland), poor understanding of the way in which ash particles of different sizes and densities interacted with jet engines meant that avoiding ‘visible’ or ‘discernible’ ash was the only way for airlines to operate.
Approach
Geographers at the University of Leeds analysed sedimentary volcanic ash layers preserved in lake sediments and peatlands in combination with historically-documented records of past volcanic ash fallout events.
This provided unique records of past volcanic ash clouds across Europe, which enhanced understanding of particle size distributions at different distances from eruptions.
Impact
Following the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, NASA initiated the Vehicle Integrated Propulsion Research (VIPR) Project (2011-2015), involving experiments where volcanic ash was injected into jet engines under controlled conditions.
The Leeds datasets enabled NASA and partners to determine that the ash used in the VIPR experiments was representative of distal volcanic ash. New engine operational and maintenance policies were developed within NASA and Rolls-Royce.
Ultimately, the changes pioneered by Rolls-Royce, and the subsequent uptake of their new position statement by airline operators worldwide, means that another volcanic eruption like the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010 will not lead to the same level of flight disruption.
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How to cite
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (2023) Advances to jet engine operations developed from novel volcanic ash records. Available at https://rgs.org/advancestojetengineoperations Last accessed on: <date>