Staff Management

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Search Results Cite abstracts as Author(s) (2006), Title, Eos Trans. AGU,

(52), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract xxxxx-xx

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HR: 08:15h

AN: V41F-02

TI: Response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory to Public Inquiry Concerning the 2006 Eruption of Augustine Volcano, Cook Inlet, Alaska

AU: * Adleman, J N

EM: ********@****.***

AF: Alaska Volcano Observatory, USGS Alaska Science Center, 4200 University Drive,

Anchorage, AK 99508 United States

AB:

The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano provided the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) with an opportunity

to test its newly renovated Operations Center (Ops) at the Alaska Science Center in Anchorage. Because of

the demand for interagency operations and public communication, Ops became the hub of Augustine

monitoring activity, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, from January 10 through May 19, 2006.

During this time, Ops was staffed by 17 USGS AVO staff, and over two dozen Fairbanks-based AVO staff from the Alaska Department of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Geophysical Institute and USGS Volcano Hazards Program staff from outside Alaska. This group engaged in

communicating with the public, media, and other responding agencies throughout the eruption. Before and

during the eruption, reference sheets - including daily talking

points - were created, vetted, and distributed to prepare staff for questions about the

volcano. These resources were compiled into a binder stationed at each Ops phone and available through the

AVO computer network. In this way, AVO was able to provide a comprehensive, uniform, and timely response

to callers and emails at all three of its cooperative organizations statewide. AVO was proactive in scheduling

an Information Scientist for interviews on-site with Anchorage television stations and newspapers several times a week. Scientists available, willing, and able to speak clearly about the current activity were crucial to

AVO's response. On January 19, 2006, two public meetings were held in Homer, 120

kilometers northeast of Augustine Volcano. AVO, the West Coast Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, and the

Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management gave brief presentations explaining their roles in

eruption response. Representatives from several local, state, and federal agencies were also available. In

addition to communicating with the public by daily media interviews and phone calls to Ops, all activity reports, images, and selected data streams were posted in near real time on the AVO public website. Hundreds of

emails were answered. The AVO website quickly became highly organized and the most up-to-date and

comprehensive place for anyone with internet access to learn about the eruption and

AVO's response. This was the first such organized response of AVO and may be the

outgrowth of increased expectations of AVO by the public. From November 28, 2005, through May 16, 2006,

staff logged and answered approximately 400 phone calls and 1000 emails about Augustine.

AVO's interagency response plan and relationships with other key agencies helped in

responding to requests from the media and the public for a wide variety of information. However, the most

frequent questions from callers were about ash fall advisories and what to do in the event of an ash fall. This

highlighted the need to produce coordinated, co-agency reporting of ash fall potential and recommended

preparation.

DE: 6699 General or miscellaneous

DE: 7280 Volcano seismology (8419)

DE: 8499 General or miscellaneous

SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]

MN: 2006 Fall Meeting

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