The President of the National Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC), Nicola Zaccheo, and the President of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Carlo Doglioni, signed a framework agreement between the two entities.
In order to define the management methods of the agreement and the activities of common interest, this Agreement provides for the establishment of a Cooperation Committee which will be attended by the General Manager of INGV Maria Siclari and three representatives of the Institute and, for ENAC, as many representatives with the Deputy General Manager Alessandro Cardi. The subject of the Agreement is the exchange of technical and scientific knowledge and collaboration in the strategic sectors of the volcanic ash of the Space Weather and the experimental use of drones for seismic, volcanic and environmental research and monitoring purposes.
Thus the institutional collaboration between the two bodies, which had already been in place since 2006, is formalised, aimed at maintaining and improving the safety standards of national and international air navigation through the constant monitoring of the activity of the Italian volcanoes, the punctual information for aeronautical stakeholders and the application of contingency procedures for the provision of air navigation services at Italian airports close to active volcanoes, in compliance with the provisions of national and international regulatory standards.
In particular, the support of INGV will be ensured, with its two national volcanological observatories accredited by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization), for the activities within the competence of ENAC relating to the ICAO VOLCEX exercises. These exercises concern the observation and prediction of the dispersion of volcanic ash clouds, for the application of the procedures envisaged by the EUR NAT Volcanic Ash Contingency Plan.
Furthermore, in line with the recent ICAO determinations on the obligation to supply Space Weather products and services for assistance to international air navigation, the Agreement includes the activities carried out by INGV, also in the context of the European PECASUS Consortium, for the observation of the phenomena that occur in the ionosphere and in the magnetosphere and the prediction of Space Weather phenomena.
Image - Ash emission from Etna
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