IVESPA is the product of a broad community effort endorsed by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI) Commission on Tephra Hazard Modelling and the Global Volcano Model. The database was compiled to provide a rich dataset with which numerical plume models could be tested and validated. Detailed information on version 1.0 of IVESPA is available in a companian publication.
The archive Version 1.0 comprises information for 134 explosive eruptive events with independent estimates of: i) total erupted mass of tephra-fallout deposits; ii) eruption duration; iii) eruption column height; and iv) atmospheric conditions. Other eruption source parameters, such as the total grain size distribution or the magma water content, were collected when available.
The archive V1.0 includes information from over 340 peer-reviewed scientific publications and other resources, such as bulletins of the Global Volcanism Program (GVP), and reports from volcano observatories. The full reference list is available within the archive.
Work is currently underway to make an interactive interface to allow searching of the database. In the meantime, IVESPA can be downloaded as a .xlsx file.
Download the Atmospheric files for each eruption.
Download available Total Grainsize Distributions.
To ensure the quality of the data provided, at least two Data Contributors independently collected key eruption source parameter information for each event in the database before agreeing on consensual values. IVESPA provides the user with the final consensual values, but all values initially collected and details on the discussions to reach a consensual value are available below. For full details on this quality control process, please see the IVESPA paper under Publications.
Download initial Data Contributor Values
Download parameter discussions
Most databases describing volcanic activity are built on incomplete or unclear information gathered from the published record and as a consequence, experts compiling ESP must commonly interpret information. To capture this interpretation, in development of the archive, the following flags were used: