West Sumatra BMKG Needs Lidar To Monitor The Accuracy Of The Volcanic Ash Distribution At The Airport

Officers closed the aircraft engine at Minangkabau International Airport which was affected by the spread of volcanic ash in Padang Pariaman, West Sumatra. (ANTARA/Muhammad Personal Arif)

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) of the Minangkabau Class II Meteorological Station, Padang Pariaman, West Sumatra requires a Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) tool that can monitor the accuracy of the distribution of volcanic ash around the airport.

"There is a tool called Lidar but we don't have it yet. This tool can function to capture aerosols or dust particles," said Head of BMKG Minangkabau Class II Meteorological Station, Padang Pariaman Desindra Deddy Kurniawan as reported by ANTARA, Saturday, November 9.

The use of Lidar is mainly related to airport activities. Moreover, currently the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has raised the status of Mount Marapi from alert to alert following the uncontinuous eruption that occurred since December 3, 2023.

Based on BMKG records of the Minangkabau Class II Meteorological Station, Padang Pariaman, at least five times the closure of Minangkabau International Airport (BIM) due to the spread of volcanic ash.

He said that so far BMKG together with the Airport Authority Office, Angkasa Pura II BIM Branch and related parties relied on Himawari 9 satellite imagery and paper tests to check the distribution of volcanic ash around the airport.

However, he said, the use of Himawari 9 satellite imagery using the Red Green Blue method could not always be effective, especially when cloud cover occurred around the airport area.

Therefore, the procurement of Lidar is needed to make monitoring of volcanic ash more accurate.

Bad impact if volcanic ash enters the airport area, which is to clog the air speed monitoring system which is an important part of flying and landing, and can then disrupt navigation and other electronic systems.

The spread of volcanic ash also causes the runway to become slippery, endangering takeoff activity or when the plane is about to land.

In addition, volcanic ash can damage the function of the engine compressor on the aircraft so as to reduce efficiency.