High Detailed Lava Flows Hazard Maps by a Cellular Automata Approach

The determination of areas exposed to be interested by new eruptive events in volcanic regions is crucial for diminishing consequences in terms of human causalities and damages of material properties. In this paper, we illustrate a methodology for defining flexible high-detailed lava invasion hazard maps. Specific scenarios can be extracted at any time from the simulation database, for land-use and civil defence planning in the long-term, to quantify, in real-time, the impact of an imminent eruption, and to assess the efficiency of protective measures. Practical applications referred to some inhabited areas of Mt Etna (South Italy), Europe’s most active volcano, show the methodology’s appropriateness in this field.