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Washington, DC VAAC - Support


As of November 1, 1997, the Washington VAAC will provide the following:

  1. Within the Washington VAAC area of responsibility:
    1. Volcanic Ash Advisory (VAA) in text format, issued at least every 6 hours or until it is determined that the volcanic ash cloud cannot be discerned from satellite imagery or is not reported from the following sources: volcano observatories, pilots, ground observations, media reports. Reliability of these reports will be investigated and/or considered prior to issuing a VAA.
    2. A graphical depiction of the ash cloud, if feasible.
    3. VAFTAD (Volcanic Ash Forecast Transport and Dispersion) model output at least every 12 hours or when new information is available.
    4. A daily Watch VAA will describe the potential for an eruption for specific volcanoes from which reliable reports are received. If an eruption occurs, the watch VAA will be replaced with an Advisory VAA. At the end of an event, if the volcano is still restless, the Watch VAA statements will resume.
    5. Test VAFTADs for volcanoes that may become active or were active in the past will be available only in an experimental (i.e., non-operational) mode from: ARL Air Resources Laboratory.
    6. Requests for special support or briefings other than the products specified above may not be available due to resource limitations.
  2. Outside the Washington VAAC area of responsibility:
    1. The appropriate VAAC will be contacted if possible.
    2. Messages from other VAACs will be posted on our web site as available.
  3. Assistance will be provided to other VAACs as necessary and as resources allow.
  4. Support will be provided according to ICAO Annex 3 Standards and Recommended Practices