article on italian newspaper "Il Messaggero", today.
Interview with Enzo Boschi, head of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).
It's translated by google translator, not perfect...
Scientists: "unjustified block"
Boschi: block expected with 200 milligrams per cubic meter, but there were only 10.
CNR (National Research Council) complains: "data has been ignored"
"Those of Earlinet as well as our (data) have been used only partially.
The President dell'lngv: "Our country among the first to organizzaisi to address these possibilities. But has little power when you take the operational decisions "
The station Isac-Cnr of Monte Cimone monitored in real time: in some moments there was more sand from the Saharan than dust from the volcano.
Flights suspended, and passengers into chaos billions of euro went up in smoke. Yet, from the pure scientific analysis of the facts that the ash cloud seems never to have reached Italy. Many alarm only for a handful of dust in the North Italy. "Our projections - said Enzo Boschi, president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) - tell us that yesterday would come in a Mediterranean dust concentrations less than 10 micrograms per cubic meter. As provided for Eurocontrol, the alert is launched only when the dust rnicrogramrni than 200 per cubic meter.
This has not stopped our country to stop flights to almost half a day. Our aircraft have remained grounded despite scientific data speak of a risk almost zero.
"It 'really injustified such a stance' Boschi criticizes. "We can not continue to paralyze the country because there is no appropriate organization for such emergencies."
Yes, because if there is one thing that the Icelandic volcano has taught us is that we are not ready to face this kind of phenomenon on the international level. This time is our country that is ahead, but decision-making power too low to rely on their skills.
"Until April 15 - Boschi says - there was a substantial lack of interest in these problems. Only Italy and Iceland were preparing for years for this type of emergency. Our country did so with little funding from the Ministry of University and Research. The others were watching. "
Still, we had to adjust to the lines and recommendations coming from those that on handling volcanic eruption have spent too little. And 'in fact Ingv grueling work of scientists who have the continuous and careful monitoring of the activity of Italian volcanoes and beyond. These researchers to perform chemical analysis of dust in Iceland to see if the cloud is dangerous to health and the environment "We have all the tools capabilities - add Woods - to put on a service monitoring volcanic activity 24 Hour 24.
In addition to INGV, the CNR has also made available its excellent service to the emergency caused by the volcano in Iceland. The stations of the European Earlinet coordinated by the Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis of Power Cnr provided information on the ash cloud in real time, from Sweden to Romania, thanks to optical radar beams shooting into the air to analyze market composition. The station Isac-Cnr of Monte Cimone provided data on the amount of ash in the cloud, verifying that over Italy it was even lower than that at certain times of Saharan sand is brought by the scirocco. However, these data were not used or used only minimally, from authorities to the authorization of flights, said Luciano Maiani, president of the CNR. They preferred to rely on models from the Centre for European control of volcanic dust, the Vaac. Their predictions - Woods says - are based on outdated models instead compared with those on which we work in Italy.
According to our scientists, wrong this time was the European organization.
"We must restore the list of priorities - ending Woods - and spend the extra money in areas such as volcanology, which may have an important impact on our lives. We are ready to lend a hand. "
Investing now means savings later.
"With 100 million - estimated Maiani - you could finance a European observational network more complete with frontier technologies for 10 years, in an emergency, would identify possible air corridors to minimize safety stop flights. The investment required is considerably less than the losses suffered by airlines and would benefit all European citizens. "
Flights canceled: 22,000 flights daily travel Europe - 1000 those canceled yesterday for the ash cloud