May 25 2009 - Raoul Island comes online
The GeoNet team have just returned from Raoul Island where they installed two tsunami gauges, two seismograph sites, a GPS receiver and various volcano monitoring instruments, including a volcano webcam and remote lake level and temperature sensors.
The webcam view of Green Lake on Raoul Island. Part of Blue Lake can be seen at the right of the picture, with the accommodation buildings at top right.
One of the team, Andrew Cowie, was injured in an accident at Boat Cove on Raoul Island on the afternoon of Friday, May 15. He was about to step off the boat when unfortunately a swell caught the boat and threw him up against the boat railing. He was transported back to base camp on Raoul Island where a doctor checked Andrew for any obvious injuries. He was in a lot of pain and it appeared he may have broken ribs, together with the possibility of internal injuries and bleeding. The doctor advised that Andrew should be taken back to New Zealand as soon as possible. A helicopter brought Andrew and the doctor back to Tauranga, arriving at 3 pm Saturday, where Andrew was met by his partner and young son. It was confirmed that he had cracked and broken ribs, but no other complications, and he is now recuperating at his home in Featherston.
Raoul Island is part of the Kermadec Islands, 750 to 1,000 km north-north-east of New Zealand, and are of volcanic origin. They are uninhabited, except for Raoul Island where a team of Department of Conservation staff carry out weed control work and make meteorological observations. There are also many submarine volcanoes in this chain.
The last eruption on Raoul was on March 17, 2006 at about 8:20 in the morning, when without warning rocks and mud were ejected from the Green Lake area. Equipment on the island at the time showed the eruption continued for around 30 minutes. Satellite images taken after the eruption confirmed that the volcano belched 200 tonnes of sulphur dioxide during the eruption and in the following 5 hours. Tragically, a Department of Conservation employee was killed by this eruption.
The volcano monitoring equipment will improve the safety of personnel on the island as well as building up a long-term history of the characteristics of this volcano. Of most interest will be the webcam on Mount Moumoukai, showing a view towards the north-west encompassing Green and Blue Lakes. Unlike the more well-known New Zealand volcanoes, this will be a new sight for most people.
Raoul Island also adds a vital location into the global network of seismographs and GPS receivers, as well as its tsunami gauges confirming whether or not a tsunami may be en route to the New Zealand mainland. This long-planned mission is now complete and we look forward to the data collected by these instruments contributing a greater undertanding of New Zealand's natural hazards.
