Volcanic risk to marine infrastructure and shipping

Abstract

Exploration of volcanic risk over recent decades has helped garner a detailed understanding of the vulnerabilities and processes at work in the terrestrial setting, but relatively little is understood about volcanic risk at sea, despite our increasing reliance on surface shipping, energy and resource infrastructure, and submarine telecoms cables. This is rooted in (1) a lack of understand- ing of the marine volcanic processes themselves, (2) a lack of knowledge regarding how these processes interact with existing use and infrastructure at sea, and (3) no effective quantification of the degree of exposure and therefore vulnerability that different elements of our trade and industry experience to these different hazard processes. Addressing these concerns must be a priority for the volcanological and maritime communities, as well as the users and stakeholders. This work aims to shine a light on some of the processes, interactions and major vulnerabilities which we are currently exposed to as a globally connected society. We focus primarily on exploring the primary hazards and detailing the risk posed to shipping and port infrastructure. Some first order constraints are explored to provide context for the scale of the issues at hand. Finally, we suggest 6 initial goals for disaster risk reduction which require a full spectrum of research, policy, and behavioural developments and improvements.