Volcano Crisis Management at Piton de la Fournaise (La Reunion) during the COVID-19 Lockdown
Journal article, 2021
In March 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and became a global health crisis. Authorities worldwide implemented lockdowns to restrict travel and social exchanges in a global effort to counter the pandemic. In France, and in French overseas departments, the lockdown was effective from 17 March to 11 May 2020. It was in this context that the 2-6 April 2020 eruption of Piton de la Fournaise (La Reunion Island, Indian Ocean) took place. Upon the announcement of the lockdown in France, a reduced activity plan was set up by the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, which manages the Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise (OVPF). The aim was to (1) maintain remote monitoring operations by teleworking and (2) authorize fieldwork only for critical reasons, such as serious breakdowns of stations or transmission relays. This eruption provided an opportunity for the observatory to validate its capacity to manage a volcanic crisis with 100% remotely operated monitoring networks. We thus present the longand short-term precursors to the eruption, and the evolution of the eruption recorded using the real-time monitoring data as communicated to the stakeholders. The data were from both continuously recording and transmitting field instruments as well as satellites. The volcano observatory staff remotely managed the volcano crisis with the various stakeholders based only on these remotely functioning networks. Monitoring duties were also assured in the absence of ad hoc field investigation of the eruption by observatory staff or face-to-face communications. The density and reliability of the OVPF networks, combined with satellite observations, allowed for trustworthy instrument-based monitoring of the eruption and continuity of the OVPF duties in issuing regular updates of volcanic activity in the context of a double crisis: volcanic and health.
Author
Aline Peltier
Paris Descartes University
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Valerie Ferrazzini
Paris Descartes University
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Andrea Di Muro
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Paris Descartes University
Philippe Kowalski
Paris Descartes University
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Nicolas Villeneuve
Paris Descartes University
Université de La Réunion
Nicole Richter
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
Paris Descartes University
Oryaelle Chevrel
Clermont Auvergne University
Jean Luc Froger
Clermont Auvergne University
Alexis Hrysiewicz
University College Dublin
Clermont Auvergne University
Mathieu Gouhier
Clermont Auvergne University
Diego Coppola
University of Turin
Lise Retailleau
Paris Descartes University
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Francois Beauducel
Savoie Mont Blanc University
Paris Descartes University
Lucia Gurioli
Clermont Auvergne University
Patrice Boissier
Paris Descartes University
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Christophe Brunet
Paris Descartes University
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Philippe Catherine
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Paris Descartes University
Fabrice Fontaine
Paris Descartes University
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Frederic Lauret
Paris Descartes University
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Luciano Garavaglia
Paris Descartes University
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Jacques Lebreton
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Paris Descartes University
Kevin Canjamale
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Paris Descartes University
Nicolas Desfete
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Paris Descartes University
Cyprien Griot
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Paris Descartes University
Andrew Harris
Clermont Auvergne University
Santiago Arellano
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing
Marco Liuzzo
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology
Sergio Gurrieri
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology
Michael Ramsey
University of Pittsburgh
Seismological Research Letters
0895-0695 (ISSN) 19382057 (eISSN)
Vol. 92 1 38-52Subject Categories
Telecommunications
Communication Systems
Communication Studies
DOI
10.1785/0220200212