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Airlines cancel flights after volcanic eruptions. An aviation expert explains why that’s a good thing

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/patrick-murray-2027113">Patrick Murray</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> At least three airlines <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-13/flights-to-and-from-bali-cancelled-due-to-volcanic-ash/104593698">cancelled flights between Australia and Bali</a> this week after a volcano eruption in eastern Indonesia spewed a vast plume of volcanic ash into the air. But while would-be holiday makers are naturally <a href="https://7news.com.au/sunrise/volcanic-eruption-in-indonesia-forces-airlines-to-cancel-flights-to-bali-stranding-frustrated-passengers-c-16732486">upset</a> at having their plans disrupted, it’s worth remembering it’s not safe to fly planes through volcanic ash. So, how do airlines decide it’s not safe to fly when a volcano erupts? And why is volcanic ash so dangerous for aircraft, anyway? <h2>What does volcanic ash do to a plane?</h2> Volcanic ash particles are very, very abrasive. They can cause permanent damage to windscreens in the aircraft and can even make windscreens look opaque – like someone has gone over them with sandpaper. Imagine getting spectacles and scraping them over and over with sandpaper – that’s what you’d see if you were sitting in the cockpit. Volcanic ash can also clog or damage external sensors, leading to erroneous readings, and can infiltrate an aircraft’s ventilation system. This can affect cabin air quality and lead to potential respiratory issues. But the main issue, in fact, is the impact volcanic ash has on engines. A jet engine works by drawing in air, compressing it, mixing it with fuel and igniting it. This creates high-pressure exhaust gases that are expelled backward, which pushes the engine (and the aircraft) forward. The correct balance of fuel and airflow is crucial. When you disrupt airflow, it can cause the engine to stall. Ash particles that get inside the engines will melt and build up, causing disruption of the airflow. This could cause the engine to “flame out” or stall. Volcanic ash has a lot of silica in it, so when it melts it turns into something similar to glass. It won’t melt unless exposed to very high temperatures – but inside a jet engine, you do get very high temperatures. There was a famous incident in 1982 where a <a href="https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-story-of-british-airways-flight-9-the-boeing-747-that-lost-all-four-engines-due-to-volcanic-ash-yet-it-landed-safely/">British Airways Boeing 747 plane</a> was flying in the vicinity of Indonesia and lost all four engines after it encountered volcanic ash spewing from Java’s Mount Galunggung. Fortunately, the pilot was able to <a href="https://simpleflying.com/gallunggung-glider-the-story-of-british-airways-flight-9/">restart the engines and land safely</a>, although the pilots were unable to see through the front windscreens. <h2>How do airlines decide it’s not safe to fly when a volcano erupts?</h2> The decision is made by each airline’s operational staff. Each airline’s operational team would be looking at the situation in real time today and making the decision based on their risk assessment. Every airline has a process of risk management, which is required by Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority. Different airlines may tackle risk management in slightly different ways; you might have some cancelling flights earlier than others. But, in broad terms, the more sophisticated airlines would come to similar conclusions and they are likely all communicating with each other. Mostly, they make the call based on the extent of the plume – how big the cloud of ash is and where it’s going, bearing in mind that winds vary with altitude. As you get stronger winds with altitude, the ash can drift quite far from the source. There is also a United Nations agency called the <a href="https://www.icao.int/Pages/default.aspx">International Civil Aviation Organization</a>, which issues guidance on volcanic ash hazards. Various meteorological agencies around the world work together and liaise with aviation authorities to spread the word quickly if there is an eruption. For airlines to resume flights, the ash needs to clear and there needs to be a low probability of further eruptions. <h2>Passenger safety is the priority</h2> The underpinning reason behind these flight cancellations is safety. If you lose engines and you can’t see out the window, the risk to passenger safety is obvious. Naturally, people are upset about their holiday plans being held up. But it’s actually in passengers’ best interests to not fly through volcanic ash.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/243576/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/patrick-murray-2027113">Patrick Murray</a>, Emeritus Professor of Aviation, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> Image credits: Shutterstock This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/airlines-cancel-flights-after-volcanic-eruptions-an-aviation-expert-explains-why-thats-a-good-thing-243576">original article</a>.

Travel Trouble

Is climate change causing more volcanic eruptions?

The Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland began <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-04/iceland-volcano-fagradalsfjall-erupts/101302732" target="_blank" rel="noopener">erupting again</a> on Wednesday after eight months of slumber – so far without any adverse impacts on people or air traffic. The eruption was expected. It’s in a seismically active (uninhabited) area, and came after several days of earthquake activity close to Earth’s surface. It’s hard to say how long it will continue, although an eruption in the same area last year lasted about six months. <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate change</a> is causing the widespread warming of our land, oceans and atmosphere. Apart from this, it also has the potential to increase volcanic activity, affect the size of eruptions, and alter the “<a href="https://volcano.oregonstate.edu/climate-cooling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cooling effect</a>” that follows volcanic eruptions. Any of these scenarios could have far-reaching consequences. Yet we don’t fully understand the impact a warming climate could have on volcanic activity. <h2>Cold volcanic regions</h2> First, let’s take a look at volcanic regions covered in ice. There’s a <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/96JB01308" target="_blank" rel="noopener">long-established link</a> between the large-scale melting of ice in active volcanic regions and increased eruptions. Research on Iceland’s volcanic systems has identified a heightened period of activity related to the large-scale ice melt at the end of the last ice age. The average eruption rates were found to be up to <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2001GC000282" target="_blank" rel="noopener">100 times</a> higher after the end of the last glacial period, compared to the earlier colder glacial period. Eruptions were also smaller when ice cover was thicker. But why is this the case? Well, as glaciers and ice sheets melt, pressure is taken off Earth’s surface and there are changes in the forces (stress) acting on rocks within the crust and upper mantle. This can lead to more molten rock, or “magma”, being produced in the mantle – which can feed more eruptions. The changes can also affect where and how magma is stored in the crust, and can make it easier for magma to reach the surface. Magma generation beneath Iceland is already <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jgrb.50273" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increasing</a> due to a warming climate and melting glaciers. The intense ash-producing eruption of Iceland’s <a href="https://ncas.ac.uk/eyjafjallajokull-2010-how-an-icelandic-volcano-eruption-closed-european-skies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eyjafjallajökull</a> volcano in 2010 was the result of an explosive interaction between hot magma and cold glacial melt water. Based on what we know from the past, an increase in Iceland’s melting ice could lead to larger and more frequent volcanic eruptions. <h2>Weather-triggered eruptions</h2> But what about volcanic regions that aren’t covered in ice – could these also be affected by global warming? Possibly. We know climate change is increasing the severity of storms and other weather events in many parts of the world. These weather events may trigger more volcanic eruptions. On December 6 2021, an eruption at one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, Mount Semeru, caused ashfall, <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/pyroclastic-flows-move-fast-and-destroy-everything-their-path" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pyroclastic flows</a> and volcanic mudflows (called “lahars”) that claimed the lives of at least 50 people. Local authorities hadn’t expected the scale of the eruption. As for the cause, they said several days of heavy rain had destabilised the dome of lava in the volcano’s summit crater. This led to the dome collapsing, which reduced pressure on the magma below and triggered an eruption. Signals of volcanic unrest are usually obtained from changes in volcanic systems (such as earthquake activity), changes in gas emissions from the volcano, or small changes in the shape of the volcano (which can be detected by ground-based or satellite monitoring). Predicting eruptions is already an incredibly complex task. It will become even more difficult as we begin to factor in risk posed by severe weather which could destabilise parts of a volcano. Some scientists <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2172-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspect</a> increased rainfall led to the damaging 2018 Kīlauea eruption in Hawaii. This was preceded by months of heavy rainfall, which infiltrated the earth and increased underground water pressure within the <a href="https://earthresources.vic.gov.au/projects/victorian-gas-program/onshore-conventional-gas/porosity-permeability" target="_blank" rel="noopener">porous</a> rock. They believe this could have weakened and fractured the rock, facilitating the movement of magma and triggering the eruption. But other <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/publications/rainfall-unlikely-trigger-kilaueas-2018-rift-eruption" target="_blank" rel="noopener">experts</a> disagree, and say there’s no substantial link between rainfall events and eruptions at Kīlauea volcano. Rain-influenced volcanism has also been proposed at other volcanoes around the world, such as the Soufrière Hills <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0377027309002261" target="_blank" rel="noopener">volcano</a> in the Caribbean, and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1046/j.1365-3121.2001.00297.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Piton de la Fournaise</a> on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. <h2>Changes to the ‘cooling effect’</h2> There’s another layer we can’t ignore when it comes to assessing the potential link between climate change and volcanic activity. That is: volcanoes themselves can influence the climate. An eruption can lead to <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/volcanoes-can-affect-climate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cooling or warming</a>, depending on the volcano’s geographical location, the amount and composition of ash and gas erupted, and how high the plume reaches into the atmosphere. Volcanic injections that were rich in sulphur dioxide gas have had the strongest climatic impact recorded in historic times. Sulphur dioxide eventually condenses to form sulfate aerosols in the stratosphere – and these aerosols reduce how much heat reaches Earth’s surface, causing cooling. As the climate warms, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24943-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a> shows this will change how volcanic gases interact with the atmosphere. Importantly, the outcome won’t be the same for all eruptions. Some scenarios show that, in a warmer atmosphere, small to medium-sized eruptions could reduce the cooling effect of volcanic plumes by up to 75%. These scenarios assume the “tropopause” (the boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere) will increase in height as the atmosphere warms. But since the volcano’s eruption column will stay the same, the plume carrying sulphur dioxide will be less likely to reach the upper atmosphere – where it would have the largest impact on the climate. On the other hand, more powerful but less frequent volcanic eruptions could lead to a greater cooling effect. That’s because as the atmosphere gets warmer, plumes of ash and gas emitted from powerful eruptions are predicted to rise higher into the atmosphere, and spread <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013RG000448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rapidly</a> from the tropics to higher latitudes. One <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GL099381" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent study</a> has suggested the major Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption in January may contribute to global warming, by pumping massive amounts of water vapour (a greenhouse gas) into the stratosphere. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-volcano-is-erupting-again-in-iceland-is-climate-change-causing-more-eruptions-187858" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Travel Trouble

Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next

The Kingdom of Tonga doesn’t often attract global attention, but a <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/459572/underwater-volcano-hunga-tonga-hunga-ha-apai-erupts-again">violent eruption of an underwater volcano</a> on January 15 has spread shock waves, quite literally, around half the world. The volcano is usually not much to look at. It consists of two small uninhabited islands, Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga, poking about 100m above sea level 65km north of Tonga’s capital Nuku‘alofa. But hiding below the waves is a massive volcano, around 1800m high and 20km wide. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440948/original/file-20220115-27-82tzyq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="A map of the massive underwater volcano next to the Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga islands." /> A massive underwater volcano lies next to the Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga islands. Author provided The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano has erupted regularly over the past few decades. During events in 2009 and 2014/15 hot jets of magma and steam exploded through the waves. But these eruptions were small, dwarfed in scale by the January 2022 events. Our <a href="https://eos.org/science-updates/new-volcanic-island-unveils-explosive-past">research</a> into these earlier eruptions suggests this is one of the massive explosions the volcano is capable of producing roughly every thousand years. Why are the volcano’s eruptions so highly explosive, given that sea water should cool the magma down? If magma rises into sea water slowly, even at temperatures of about 1200℃, a thin film of steam forms between the magma and water. This provides a layer of insulation to allow the outer surface of the magma to cool. But this process doesn’t work when magma is blasted out of the ground full of volcanic gas. When magma enters the water rapidly, any steam layers are quickly disrupted, bringing hot magma in direct contact with cold water. Volcano researchers call this “fuel-coolant interaction” and it is akin to weapons-grade chemical explosions. Extremely violent blasts tear the magma apart. A chain reaction begins, with new magma fragments exposing fresh hot interior surfaces to water, and the explosions repeat, ultimately jetting out volcanic particles and causing blasts with supersonic speeds. <h2>Two scales of Hunga eruptions</h2> The 2014/15 eruption created a volcanic cone, joining the two old Hunga islands to create a combined island about 5km long. We visited in 2016, and discovered these historical eruptions were merely <a href="https://eos.org/science-updates/new-volcanic-island-unveils-explosive-past">curtain raisers to the main event</a>. Mapping the sea floor, we discovered a hidden “caldera” 150m below the waves. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440944/original/file-20220115-19-nplel8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="A map of the seafloor shows the volcanic cones and caldera." /> A map of the seafloor shows the volcanic cones and massive caldera. Author provided The caldera is a crater-like depression around 5km across. Small eruptions (such as in 2009 and 2014/15) occur mainly at the edge of the caldera, but very big ones come from the caldera itself. These big eruptions are so large the top of the erupting magma collapses inward, deepening the caldera. Looking at the chemistry of past eruptions, we now think the small eruptions represent the magma system slowly recharging itself to prepare for a big event. We found evidence of two huge past eruptions from the Hunga caldera in deposits on the old islands. We matched these chemically to volcanic ash deposits on the largest inhabited island of Tongatapu, 65km away, and then used radiocarbon dates to show that big caldera eruptions occur about ever 1000 years, with the last one at AD1100. With this knowledge, the eruption on January 15 seems to be right on schedule for a “big one”. <h2>What we can expect to happen now</h2> We’re still in the middle of this major eruptive sequence and many aspects remain unclear, partly because the island is currently obscured by ash clouds. The two earlier eruptions on December 20 2021 and January 13 2022 were of moderate size. They produced clouds of up to 17km elevation and added new land to the 2014/15 combined island. The latest eruption has stepped up the scale in terms of violence. The ash plume is already about 20km high. Most remarkably, it spread out almost concentrically over a distance of about 130km from the volcano, creating a plume with a 260km diameter, before it was distorted by the wind. <img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1920/2022-01_volcano_jan_13_ash%281%29.gif?1642274062" alt="" width="100%" /> This demonstrates a huge explosive power – one that cannot be explained by magma-water interaction alone. It shows instead that large amounts of fresh, gas-charged magma have erupted from the caldera. The eruption also produced a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/15/tonga-tsunami-warning-as-volcano-erupts-at-sea">tsunami throughout Tonga</a> and neighbouring Fiji and Samoa. Shock waves traversed many thousands of kilometres, were seen from space, and recorded in New Zealand some 2000km away. Soon after the eruption started, the sky was blocked out on Tongatapu, with ash beginning to fall. All these signs suggest the large Hunga caldera has awoken. Tsunami are generated by coupled atmospheric and ocean shock waves during an explosions, but they are also readily caused by submarine landslides and caldera collapses. It remains unclear if this is the climax of the eruption. It represents a major magma pressure release, which may settle the system. A warning, however, lies in geological deposits from the volcano’s previous eruptions. These complex sequences show each of the 1000-year major caldera eruption episodes involved many separate explosion events. Hence we could be in for several weeks or even years of major volcanic unrest from the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano. For the sake of the people of Tonga I hope not.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175035/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/shane-cronin-908092">Shane Cronin</a>, Professor of Earth Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-auckland-1305">University of Auckland</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-volcanic-eruption-in-tonga-was-so-violent-and-what-to-expect-next-175035">original article</a>.

International Travel

Couple continue with wedding despite volcanic eruption

A couple did not let a major volcanic emergency get in the way of their wedding as they walked down the aisle during an eruption. Chino Vaflor and Kat Bautista Palomar had been making plans for eight years to tie the knot on Sunday at Savannah Farm in the Philippines, 10 kilometres from Taal Volcano. White smoke came out of the active volcano hours before the ceremony began, but it hadn’t reached emergency level until the wedding was underway. Philippine authorities raised their alert to the second-highest level, and people within a 14km radius of the volcano were told to evacuate. Wedding photographer Randolf Evan told <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51087441">BBC</a> they felt “definitely safe as the venue was on higher ground and not directly around the volcano's vicinity”. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frandolfevanphotography%2Fphotos%2Fa.190435824367437%2F2733509743393353%2F%3Ftype%3D3&width=500" width="500" height="338" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frandolfevanphotography%2Fphotos%2Fa.190435824367437%2F2733509883393339%2F%3Ftype%3D3&width=500" width="500" height="501" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> Evan said the wedding guests were “calm and relaxed” despite the imminent danger. “Funny enough, the smoke from the volcano just kind of like served as an entertaining backdrop changing from white, yellow, pink and finally to grey,” he told <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-au/lifestyle/familyandrelationships/couple-continue-with-wedding-despite-volcano-erupting-in-the-background/ar-BBYUzCH?li=AAgfYrC">Mirror</a>. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frandolfevanphotography%2Fphotos%2Fa.190435824367437%2F2733509706726690%2F%3Ftype%3D3&width=500" width="500" height="338" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> “Our team, as well as the rest of the suppliers, was just getting a feel if the couple wanted to postpone or not. “They ended up going ahead with everything as we later found out that they have been planning for this day for eight years and two kids in the making. “It was going to be a special day for them no matter what, and it definitely was.” <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frandolfevanphotography%2Fphotos%2Fa.190435824367437%2F2733509730060021%2F%3Ftype%3D3&width=500" width="500" height="502" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> Evan said ash rained on their clothes, but “it didn't feel alarming until nighttime came when it became a bit heavier and mud-like”. He confirmed that everyone was now safely out of the danger zone.

Travel Trouble

He put his life on the line: White Island tour guide praised for rescuing more than 20 survivors

A White Island tour guide has been praised for his “superhuman” effort in rescuing victims from the disaster scene in an emotional Facebook tribute by his former boss. Posting a heartfelt tribute on Tuesday, Rick Pollock spoke about White Island Tours manager Paul Kingi and also how the company was established 35 years ago and achieved a string of successes until “their fabulous run of luck ran out.” He wrote that he was “personally devastated” as he had known deceased tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman, since he was three years old. He revealed that Mr Marshal-Inman was a passionate guide who travelled to the US before returning to his home, New Zealand where he ran boats “under the supervision of his mentor and friend, Paul Kingi.” Mr Pollock, who runs a charter fishing company, said Mr Kingi had a strong work ethic which was highlighted even during horrific times. “Yesterday this all came to fruition yet again but under the most dire of circumstances. Having left the island only minutes before the eruption he was the first back on, rescuing and assisting numerous injured back onto the waiting boats. “He went back again and again, ignoring the toxic environment and personal risk, until he was satisfied there were no more obvious survivors remaining. This superhuman effort doesn’t surprise me in the least as I’ve seen this fine man in action on numerous occasions, always controlling a bad situation. “Indeed, I was shipwrecked with him once for five days on an uninhabited Island! Anyway, I’d like to recognise Paul for what he is on this occasion, nothing less than a hero!” Mr Kingi was on the dock before the final boat was making it off the island. Speaking to Radio New Zealand, Mr Pollock mentioned how Mr Kingi was “absolutely vital” to the rescue effort and fortunately, he wasn’t serving as boat skipper at the time. “Had he been the skipper he would have had the responsibility too and he couldn’t have spread himself too thin. But Paul, being a free agent was able to get back on the island and pretty much perform all the heroics,” he said, as he added that Mr Kingi got onto an inflatable dinghy and made his way back to the erupting island. “He just charged back into that crater and was just pulling people off left right and centre – I think he pulled in excess of 20 people out.” Right as he was getting ready to leave, he saw a final figure emerging through the ashes. “He said that the atmosphere was acidic, acrid and just horrible and he was really starting to get concerned for himself when he saw him,” said Mr Pollock. “That was the last person he rescued. And that man, he said, had a full inch of ash all over him.” Mr Pollock said the entire incident would have been difficult on his friend but he wanted to showcase his effort because he “flies under the radar so often”. “He’s just an incredible guy in every instance and he really showed it yesterday. He really put his life on the line.”

News

“I’m just livid”: Cruise passengers claim they weren’t told about White Islands active volcano

An Australian cruise passenger is furious and has claimed that tourists weren’t warned about the danger level of the New Zealand volcano White Island was raised just weeks before it erupted. At least six people have died after the volcano erupted when 47 tourists were on or around the volcano crater. Scientists had noted an increase in volcanic activity, which raises questions about why visitors were allowed to tour the volcano in the first place. 'It showed increased activity for the last few weeks and so we raised the alert level,' GeoNet Project Director Dr Ken Gledhill said on Monday afternoon to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/furious-australian-cruise-passenger-says-tourists-werent-warned-new-zealand-volcano-could-erupt-at-any-moment-despite-danger-level-being-raised-weeks-before-deadly-explosion/ar-BBY26rR?li=AAgfYrC" target="_blank">MSN</a>. Venessa Lugo, who is a passenger on Ovation of the Seas, said that the cruise provided information about the White Island day trip but did not detail the raised danger level, according to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/new-zealand-white-island-volcanic-eruption-at-least-six-dead-31-injured/news-story/c24e5406b279ff5f40aeb78cd18b6345" target="_blank">The Daily Telegraph</a>. Lugo said that there were printed sheets on the ship as well as details accessible on a Royal Caribbean app about the shore excursion. “In those sheets we weren't advised of any warnings of anything going off,” she said. “It did ask about pre-existing medical conditions, and it was classified as strenuous activity because you would be in a gas mask, but it definitely didn't specify the possibility of (the volcano) going off.” A spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean did not comment on the claims when contacted but <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.cruisehive.com/royal-caribbean-cruise-passengers-impacted-by-island-volcano-eruption/36288" target="_blank">released a statement</a> about the incident. “The news from White Island is devastating. The details that are emerging are heartbreaking. “We are working to help our guests and the authorities in the aftermath of this tragedy in any way we can. “We are communicating with our guests and their families. We're making sure they are taken care of in terms of medical help, counselling, accommodations, and transport. Our hearts go out to them, and we want to be as supportive as we can.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> My god, White Island volcano in New Zealand erupted today for first time since 2001. My family and I had gotten off it 20 minutes before, were waiting at our boat about to leave when we saw it. Boat ride home tending to people our boat rescued was indescribable. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/whiteisland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#whiteisland</a> <a href="https://t.co/QJwWi12Tvt">pic.twitter.com/QJwWi12Tvt</a> — Michael Schade (@sch) <a href="https://twitter.com/sch/status/1203893996566634496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">9 December 2019</a></blockquote> Barbara Barhamn, the mother of Lauren Urey, said that her daughter and her husband Matthew would have “never booked the excursion” had they known about the risks. “I'm just livid,” she said after learning the couple had been rescued with burns. “There's been warnings about it ... my son-in-law never would have booked the excursion if he knew there was any chance of them being injured,” she said. White Islands Tours chairman Paul Quinn said that decisions not to tour the island is determined by the weather. “In the normal course of events, we'd actually make that call the night before, and that principally and invariably is around the weather,” he explained to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/its-big-tragedy-us-white-island-tours-chairman-says-iwi-owned-business-missing-two-employees" target="_blank">TVNZ</a>. Quinn also explained that they work off data sent from the Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS). “They send us reports as to what the activity levels are and if in fact it is deemed safe - which is a level two which it was yesterday - the next step is the weather and then we make our choice from there,” he said. Quinn said that a level two has been deemed safe for tours. Others have said that the eruption was just a matter of time, including Monash University Emeritus Professor Ray Cas. “White Island has been a disaster waiting to happen for many years,” he said to the <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-10/a-disaster-waiting-to-happen:-prof-raymond-cas-on-eruption/11786046" target="_blank">ABC</a>. "It's 50 kilometres offshore from New Zealand with no habitation, no emergency services available. "When you actually get onto the island, you walk straight into this amphitheatre-like volcanic crater. "The floor is littered with many gas-emitting vents and also several volcanic crater lakes which are emitting steam at near-boiling temperatures.”

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Inside the popular island paradise that hides a deadly secret

Sitting among the quiet island of Stromboli, Italy, is a ticking time bomb that has also made the island home. The 300-full time residents are used to the rumbles that frequently disturb the island that’s surrounded by the Tyrrhenian Sea. The rumbles are due to a deadly volcanic mountain that rises 924 metres above sea level and extends more than 1,000 metres below. Earlier this year, the volcano erupted twice, separated by 30 seconds. Residents and tourists were quickly evacuated from the island as lava spat from the active mouths of the mountain. “It was like being in hell because of the rain of fire coming from the sky,” Stromboli priest Giovanni Longo told local media. The explosion killed one hiker and covered the island in ash. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B3VDSRiCEmY/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B3VDSRiCEmY/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">Italy, together with Iceland, presents the highest concentration of active volcanoes in Europe and is one of the first in the world #volcano #volcanoes #italy #etna #vesuvio #stromboli #vulcano #naples #napoli #catania #pompei #eruption #risk #risks #alerts #eruption #lava #lapilli #island</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/i_love_made_in_italy/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> I love made in Italy</a> (@i_love_made_in_italy) on Oct 7, 2019 at 12:35pm PDT </div> </blockquote> After the small town recovered, there was a “high intensity” blast just two months later. No one was injured, but footage emerged of residents fleeing the island in a panic. Experts believe that the volcano on the island has been in nearly continuous eruption for at least 2,000 years, but it’s the unknown that keeps residents and tourists on edge. More and more tourists are heading to the island to witness the powerful experience of a volcanic eruption. “Volcanoes are one of the forces of nature that truly are beyond human power to control: We can’t do anything about eruptions, other than get out of the way,” Amy Donovan, a geographer at the University of Cambridge, wrote for a paper published in December with the Royal Geographical Society.

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Inside the popular island paradise that hides a deadly secret