Elaine Meinel Supkis
The Raoul Island volcano suddenly blew out, killing a young naturalist who was taking temperature data. This is a reminder of all the geologists who have died, studying this very dangerous beast.
A young conservation worker who was checking a volcano's crater lake when it unexpectedly burst to life, spewing mounds of ash and soot, most likely died in the eruption in the remote nature reserve, a conservation official said Saturday.The eruption in one of Raoul Island's three main craters — the first there since 1964 — threw rocks and boulders into the air and buried the area around the lake in mud and ash up to 16 feet deep.
A rescue team was expected to set sail from New Zealand on Sunday to inspect the remote island and assess prospects for recovering the missing worker, who was part of a small team monitoring the nature reserve. By opting for a three-day sea trip, rather than flying, officials virtually ruled out finding the worker alive.
"He was at the exact epicenter of the massive destruction," said Conservation Minister Chris Carter after speaking to a rescue worker who had witnessed the devastation.
...one staff member, 33-year-old Mark Kearney, went missing, after a volcanic eruption at 8:21 am NZDT. He was on a routine mission to measure the temperature of the Green Lake. The other five staff members were evacuated by Mil Mi-17 helicopter that took off from Taupo at 11 am that morning, accompanied by a Piper PA-31 Navaho aircraft[1], and arrived in Auckland that night. While at the island, the helicopter undertook a 40-minute search for Kearney, but no sign was found. He is now presumed dead. A group of police, Conservation Department and scientific staff left on 18 March for the three-day boat trip to Raoul aboard the RV Braveheart to recover his body.
The father is philosophical about his son's probable death. He knew his child loved his work. I can see why. I grew up in the mountains, I live on a small mountain today. It is in the blood, so to speak. But mountains are dangerous.
Raoul is a stratovolcano located in the Kermadec Islands. The volcano rises 8987 ft (2740 m) above the ocean floor. Raoul is roughly triangular in shape with an area of 29.25 sq km. The center of this island contains a caldera. This caldera is 2.05 miles (3.3 km) wide. A second crater lies in the rim of the cliffs that surround the island. These cliffs also encircle half of the nearby bay. A third crater lies east of the main island.Raoul island is composed of material ejected from several eruption centers. Most of the early materials erupted from Raoul are andesitic tuffs. The Herald Islets in the east were the first to be active. A later eruption of pumice tuffs covers these andesitic tuffs. Raoul has erupted 14 times. It last erupted in 1965.
Just like oceans. Many people cluster on the edges of the restless sea and it is a very dangerous place, indeed. We try to forget this, thinking only of storms that have a long warning window of escape but the giant tsunami this last year is a reminder that the ocean is the sleeping dragon and volcanoes are, too.
This is all due to the sudden unleashing of the plate that Australia sits on. The entire outer edge of this plate has been set into motion, many earthquakes along its leading edge, this last year. As I warned a year ago, the volcanoes are all awakening across the planet due to the Great Boxing Day Quake and they will all be feeling irritable. This process will continue for at least five more years.
Here is the story of a narrow escape one young scientist had recently: Post Gazette:
As molten rocks the size of softballs rained down around him, geologist Michael Ramsey concentrated on advice he had heard from a survivor of a volcanic eruption seven years before.
Drop down. Protect your head.
Falling face down on a ridge that shielded him from the direct blast of the 12,000-foot volcano in Indonesia, the 33-year-old volcanologist from the University of Pittsburgh held his camera bag across the back of his head and tried to flick away the hot, glassy pebbles that pelted him and melted into his parka.
Picture from Post-Gazette.com.
Unfortunately for this week's victim, there was no safety zone nearby. The famous Mt. St. Helen's eruption killed a number of people including the scientist who was monitoring it. My parents flew into the volcano a mere week earlier to see what was going on. They have been on or in many volcanoes. Seems that luck was always on their side.
Flying into volcanoes is very dangerous. Here is yet another example: Lava Grrl:
PHIVOLCS Scientists and PHIVOLCS former director died in a helicopter crashA number of scientists were swept away by the tsunami last winter. Nature studies always have this element of danger because nature is dangerous as well as beautiful. We are all very grateful for the hard work all these scientists and others are doing for us.
****************************************************************************
From: Raymond Patrick R. Maximo
Message sent on 04/28/05 at 1:47am US Pacific Standard Time28 April 2005
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) has
received official reports that the PHIVOLCS contingent aboard the helicopter
that crashed all have died. The PHIVOLCS contingent includes:
Name Position Age
1. Dr. Jessie A. Daligdig Associate Scientist, DOST 44 years old
2. Dr. Norman M. Tungol Chief SRS, GGRDD 40 years old
3. Mr. Dindo V. Javier SR Analyst, 41 years old
4. Mr. Orlando S. Abengoza SR Assistant 49 years old
This contingent was together with former PHIVOLCS Director Raymundo S.
Punongbayan, governor of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) and local
coordinator of Earthquake and Megacities Initiative (EMI), as part of an
investigation team for the assessment of natural hazards in Dingalan, Aurora
and Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija for the identification of possible safe sites for
the resettlement /rehabilitation of communities affected by the 2004
typhoons.
The institute is one with the grief and sorrow of their respective family
members and mourns this great loss to the Philippine scientific community.
We know our planet better thanks to their dedication. Our sympathy goes to the families who have lost loved ones, they died for us.
Culture of Life News Main Page
Excellent story, Elaine - thanks!
I saw a Nova about vulcanologists a few years ago; that's as dangerous as geology gets. It featured the sort of people who climb to the crater of the currently-erupting volcano in order to collect gas and lava samples, etc. A significant number of them don't climb down again.
There was a guy in a trailer (some poor grad stude, no doubt) on the side of Mt. St. Helens monitoring the situation when the side of the mountain collapsed during the 1980 eruption. No trace was ever found of him or his trailer.
Posted by: JSmith | March 20, 2006 at 11:36 AM
My parents knew him. It was all so sad. He is the one who took the famous pictures of the mountain blowing up.
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | March 20, 2006 at 08:31 PM