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Volcanic ash fall hazard and risk: Technical Background paper for the UN-ISDR 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction

Created 17/10/2025

Updated 17/10/2025

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All explosive eruptions generate tephra, fragments of volcanic rock that are produced when magma or vent material is explosively disintegrated during eruption. Tephra is then convected upwards with the eruption column and carried downwind, falling out of suspension and potentially affecting communities across hundreds, or even thousands, of square kilometres. Although tephra falls rarely endanger human life directly, threats to public health and disruption to critical infrastructure services, aviation and primary production can lead to potentially substantial societal impacts. Even relatively small eruptions, such as the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland (VEI 4 on a logarithmic scale of 0 to 8 ), can cause widespread disruption, damage and economic loss. Given the potentially large geographic dispersal of tephra, and the substantial impacts that even small (a few mm) deposits can have for society, this background paper elaborates upon the tephra component of the volcanic contribution to the UN Global Assessment Report 2015. Here, we provide an overview of tephra fall hazard at global, regional and local scales and discuss the key components required to carry these hazard estimates forward to risk: namely identification of likely impacts and the response (vulnerability) of key sectors of society to tephra fall impact. Broad relationships between tephra thickness and key levels of damage have been outlined. Greater knowledge of future tephra fall hazard and associated impacts can support mitigation actions, crisis planning and emergency management activities and is an essential step towards building resilience for communities.

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Field Value
Title Volcanic ash fall hazard and risk: Technical Background paper for the UN-ISDR 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/en/dataset/342bb767-62c7-467e-99e8-d96499180dce
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage Australia
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Volcanic ash fall hazard and risk: Technical Background paper for the UN-ISDR 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/volcanic-ash-fall-hazard-and-risk-technical-background-paper-for-the-un-isdr-2015-global-assess