BEES Graduate Research Seminar: Danielle Moyer, BEES PhD Student

Thursday, March 7, 2019

3:30 PM-5:00 PM

Danielle Moyer, BEES PhD student, Drexel University

Drones & Volcanoes: Applications of sUAS-Based Measurements in Eruption Clouds from Sinabung Volcano, Sumatra, Indonesia

There are over 1,500 potentially active volcanoes in the world, with approximately 10% of the Earth’s population living in their close proximity. On average, 15 of these volcanoes erupt every year in a way that threatens to disrupt air traffic. Mitigating the hazards of airborne volcanic particles for aviation safety thus requires accurate predictions as to the path of volcanic ash clouds. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers employ a series of complex numerical models to track these paths, however, the validity of forecasts produced by these models is highly reliant on the quality of both atmospheric and volcanic input parameters, including instantaneous mass eruption rate and particle size distribution. The most pressing issue these centers are facing is that many of the essential volcanological parameters are not measurable in real time at present. To improve the community’s capacity to accurately measure inputs needed to produce effective numerical models of airborne ash transport, my research is focused in developing methods to use a Small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) to collect ash samples in situ within the cloud, and determine the size distribution, abundance, and nature of volcanic particles smaller than those currently being measured. I will be discussing my early testing of such methods at Sinabung volcano and my future work which will be completed at Mt. Merapi this June.

Contact Information

Amanda Leslie
215.571.4651
arl98@drexel.edu