HUMANITIES 9 - NATURAL HAZARDS: WHITE ISLAND VOLCANIC ERUPTION

1. WHITE ISLAND
VOLCANIC
ERUPTION

2. VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTn5MAZOtuA

3. LOCATION
• Whakaari/White Island is an
active andesite
stratovolcano situated 48
km from the east coast of
the North Island of New
Zealand, in the Bay of
Plenty.
• The island covers an area of
325 ha, which is only the
peak of a much larger
submarine volcano.
• The volcano explosively
erupted on 9 December
2019 at 2:11pm.

4. WHAT HAPPENED?
• There were 47 people on the island at the time.
• 21 people were killed, and a further twenty-six people suffered injuries,
many of whom suffered severe burns.
• There was an ongoing seismic and volcanic activity in the area as well as
heavy rainfall, low visibility and toxic gases hampered recovery
efforts over the week following the incident.
• Experts identified the event as a phreatic eruption: a release of steam
and volcanic gases that caused an explosion, launching rock and ash into
the air.

6. BACKGROUND
• White Island is an active volcano, situated 48 km off the north-northeast
coast of the North Island of New Zealand in the Bay of Plenty.
• The volcano has erupted many times in recent history, including several
times in the 1980’s.
• A major eruption formed a new crater in 2000, and small eruptions occurred
in 2012, 2013, and 2016.
• The volcano had been showing signs of unrest for several weeks before the
2019 eruption.
• In October 2019, volcanic tremors and sulphur dioxide gas were at
their highest levels since 2016, indicating that an eruption was more likely
to occur.

8. THE ERUPTION
• On 24 November, two weeks prior to the eruption, a moment magnitude 5.9
earthquake lasting approximately one minute with an epicentre located
10 kilometres northeast of White Island occurred, and was felt by people
throughout New Zealand as far south as Christchurch.
• Seismic activity can be a contributing factor to hydrothermic eruptions, due
to a reduction of pressure within the geothermal system.
• The island is monitored by GNS Science with three web cameras, one
seismograph, and a microphone to detect volcanic explosions.
• The organisation also makes regular visits to test water, gas and soil, and to
survey surface deformation.