PYR: a Cellular Automata model for pyroclastic flows and application to the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption

PYR is a first Cellular Automata model for simulating pyroclastic flows, which are generated by collapsing volcanic columns. It was developed according to an empirical method for modelling macroscopic phenomena and was applied to the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines Islands. The model is very simple, but it is able to capture the three-dimensional evolution of the phenomenon in so far as it spreads. Results of the simulations are satisfying enough, if the comparison between real and simulated event is performed, considering the area involved by the event and the thickness of the deposit.