Overview
Standardisation in data formats and database architectures among volcano observatories is minimal, which makes it difficult and time-consuming to do comparative studies of volcanic unrest, or to search data for analogues to any current unrest.
WOVOdat is a major partner in the new Global Volcano Model and is a collaboration between the World Organisation of Volcano Observatories, The Earth Observatory of Singapore and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
WOVOdat is translating and compiling this myriad of data into common formats to make them freely accessible on-line: for reference during volcanic crises, comparative studies, and basic research on pre-eruption processes. Using WOVOdat, scientists wishing to study how volcanoes prepare to erupt will be able to find a wealth of historical data at their fingertips.
Scientists needing to forecast the outcome of a fresh volcanic crisis will be able to search for analogues, find the past outcomes, and estimate (changing) probabilities of how the fresh unrest will evolve.
A Brief History of WOVOdat
After a series of eruptions in the late 1970s culminating with Mount Saint Helens eruption in 1980, C. Newhall and H. Okada put forth the idea to collect and organise volcanic unrestdata around the world. Advancement in technology has allowed this idea to become reality.
Since 2009, the Earth Observatory of Singapore has hosted and developed the WOVOdat project
WOVOdat is now open for data search and downloads. It is open for data uploads, and we list data set that are already in WOVOdat. We actively solicit relevant data contributions from volcano observatories, other institutions, and individual researchers.
The more data, the more useful WOVOdat will be! Please visit the WOVOdat web page for further information.
EOS Scientific staff and data managers of WOVO observatories. Over 70 volcano observatories from around the world have contributed to the WOVOdat project.