White Island Scrapbook

[rain_gryphon]

https://www.delahyde.com/NZ/

Great website of photos a guy took in March 2017 when he visited White Island. It gives a good sense of scale, and of just how badly screwed you'd be if there were a sudden surge while you were standing in the crater.

Comments

[moonhare]

Great bit of history there!

[rain_gryphon]

It will be interesting to see what the lake (which is where I think the eruption came from) looks like when it clears enough to see.

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

Volcanoes are the single most dangerous, destructive and lethal geological entities on the planet. How anyone could conceive it's a good idea to set foot on an active volcano purely for the purpose of recreation is utterly beyond me. Darwin Awards all around for this one.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I'd do it if I had the chance. Everyone's going to die. Not everyone will get to explore the crater of an active volcano before they do. And it's curiousity more than recreation, really. Some things are just hard to comprehend until you've actually seen them (and even then).

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

To each his own, I suppose. Though if I had a choice, being burned alive is not even in the top 100 of all possible ways I'd want to go.

[allaboutweather.livejournal.com]

On the wikipedia page there's a webcam screenshot of the hikers that was taken just before the eruption.

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

I can't find a pic there matching that description.

[allaboutweather.livejournal.com]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Whakaari/White_Island_eruption

It's right under "Eruption".

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

Ah, ok. So you actually meant the article about the eruption, not the island itself.

[allaboutweather.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sorry! I should've clarified that better!

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

Wow. So there are literal clouds of volcanic gasses visibly present at the time, and they went right ahead with their little touristy hike into the crater, anyway. Spectacularly stupid. Good god. It's a wonder any of them survived.

[allaboutweather.livejournal.com]

There was even a Level 2 alert at the time.

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

*rolls eyes*