VolcanoScan

Volcanic hazards remain an overlooked risk for many organizations. International companies with globally distributed assets easily underestimate their exposure because volcanic risk is less visible compared to other natural hazards, especially to asset managers in non-volcanic countries. Accurate risk assessments require high-resolution catastrophe model runs for every volcano near their assets, which can be resource-intensive and often impractical. Most companies will shy away from this investment, leaving a critical gap in risk awareness and preparedness. 

To address this challenge, we present the methodology for a global volcanic hazard scanning tool designed for rapid, high-level risk assessment. The tool provides a comparative ranking of an organization’s asset portfolio without requiring complex probabilistic simulations. Instead, it leverages key parameters such as proximity to active volcanoes and eruption frequency to generate a risk profile. 

Once areas of high risk are identified, we run high-resolution catastrophe models for the relevant volcanoes and integrate these results into a combined, volcano-agnostic risk assessment for each asset. This hierarchical approach—first global scanning, then targeted high-resolution modeling—enables efficient resource allocation while capturing cumulative risk from multiple volcanoes affecting the same asset. 

By offering a practical and cost-effective solution, the tool helps organizations strengthen resilience without the need for exhaustive modeling across all sites, while still providing robust insights where they matter most.