Andrew Tupper
Australian Bureau of Meteorology
The Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre is co-located with the Darwin Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre in the Northern Territory
Regional Office, Australia. Darwin is very close to the neighbouring countries of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and the Solomon Islands,
with over 150 active volcanoes between them. Since the start of Darwin VAAC operations in 1993, major challenges in building the International Airways
Volcano Watch have included dealing with the
generally low levels of infrastructure and occasional governmental instability in the region, the low general rate of 'SIGMET' and 'NOTAM' compliance for
aviation warnings, and the poor communications between volcanologists and meteorological authorities in most of these countries. Equally challenging has
been the problem of how to monitor volcanic clouds in the most tropics, where regular thunderstorms will reach over 17 km in height and obscure satellite
observations.