White Island Research Articles

Dynamics and Detection of Pulsed Tremor at Whakaari (White Island), Aotearoa New Zealand

AbstractVolcanic tremor is a crucial indicator for assessing the state and hazard potential of volcanic systems. At Whakaari (White Island volcano, Aotearoa New Zealand), a pulsed tremor signal emerged after a hydrothermal explosion in August 2012. The tremor accompanied the extrusion of a lava dome, before gradually disappearing prior to the onset of renewed hydrothermal activity in January 2013. We interpret this seismic signal to represent discrete gas transfers from a magmatic intrusion toward a permeable cap—possibly a hydrothermal seal—in the upper layers of Whakaari's hydrothermal system. Such tremor may thus be associated with heightened potential for hazardous explosive activity but is difficult to detect using conventional seismic monitoring parameters. To highlight the emergence of subtle periodic signals, we experiment with Lomb‐Scargle periodograms (LS). LS detect the tremor 5 days before it becomes visible in seismograms, thus facilitating the recognition of such elusive seismic patterns.

Accurate hindcasting of explosive eruptions at Whakaari, New Zealand

Phreatic eruptions are small, sudden events, commonly with few precursory signals. They are driven by interactions between magmatic and hydrothermal processes at shallow levels beneath the surface. Here we show that a sequence of banded tremor events, which occurred several weeks before the 9 December 2019 eruption of Whakaari (White Island), New Zealand, can be used to hindcast this eruption. The banded tremor sequence reveals a progressively decreasing time interval between tremor bands. Extrapolating the tremor bands to a time interval of zero provides an accurate estimate, at least one week prior to the eruption, to within 10.2 hours of when the eruption would occur, with a 2.8-day range between 95 % confidence intervals. A similar set of tremor signals appeared before the 27 April 2016 eruption, and these signals provide a very accurate hindcast of this eruption to within 2.61 hours, with a 2.2-day range between 95 % confidence intervals. Our analysis indicates that this potential forecasting approach may prove useful for successfully and accurately forecasting future eruptions at Whakaari. The approach also may be applicable to other volcanoes similar to Whakaari which experience sudden phreatic and phreatomagmatic eruptions.

White islands in a sea of red

Dengue is a viral disease caused by a single-stranded RNA virus from the Flaviviridae family, primarily transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, although Aedes albopictus also plays a role as a vector. Clinical features of dengue range from nonspecific symptoms to severe forms like dengue shock syndrome. Among these clinical features, dermatological manifestations are particularly noteworthy, as they can aid in differentiating dengue from other illnesses.

The Whakaari White Island Disaster and Workplace Health and Safety: Balancing Just Culture and Justice

The Whakaari White Island Disaster and Workplace Health and Safety: Balancing Just Culture and Justice

Kiwi Ingenuity – How New Zealand Healthcare Adapted for the Whakaari/White Island Disaster

Introduction:New Zealand is widely known across the globe as an adventure tourism destination. On December 9, 2019, the natural wonders of the country became a major disaster that impacted the lives of many and stretched the resources of the New Zealand healthcare system.Whakaari/White Island is an uninhabited, privately owned island 50 km off the North Island of New Zealand. It contains two strato-volcanoes, which were and remain a popular tourist destination. While an international tourist group were enjoying their guided tour of the crater, one of the volcanoes erupted, sending superheated debris and gas into the air. Of the 47 individuals on the island at the time, 39 were rescued. Overall, 25 people survived. The mortality of this event was significantly lower than historic volcanic eruptions involving ballistic and pyroclastic injuries. We are fortunate to present information specifically on the chemical and physiological changes noted from exposure to volcanic ash.Located in New Zealand’s largest city is Middlemore Hospital, home of the National Burns Center. This center is supported by three regional burn centers throughout the country. Prior to Whakaari, mass-casualty plans were in place, however, system-wide adaptations were required on many levels to ensure delivery of healthcare. This included changes in pre-hospital triage, support for regional burns centers and repatriation to home countries.This poster presentation takes you on the journey of adaptation experienced within the National Burns Service, focusing on operating theater, intensive care and acute burns management.Method:Case StudyResults:.Conclusion:.

Evaluation of updated National Burn Service escharotomy guidelines—where do we cut now?

**Objective**: An escharotomy is a time-critical/emergency limb or life-saving procedure. It may need to be performed by health professionals with little or no previous experience. Both situations occurred during the 2019 White Island (Whakaari) volcanic eruption. While online resources are included as part of the New Zealand National Burn Service website, on review the illustrations were found to lack clarity. The goal of this research was to create updated national escharotomy resources and to test their effectiveness.**Methods**: A literature review alongside expert opinion and a medical illustrator were used to produce up-to-date escharotomy illustrations. A cohort of plastic surgery registrars at Middlemore Hospital, New Zealand, undertook survey-based evaluations. We determined new guideline effectiveness on participant performance following data analysis.**Results**: Of 18 plastic surgery registrars surveyed, 45 per cent were trainees. Our new guidelines produced an improved accuracy of escharotomy placement of 100 per cent, 85 per cent and 90 per cent on torso, upper and lower limbs respectively. On average the greatest improvement was in the non-SET registrars (54% vs 32%). Using new guidelines, 100 per cent of participants felt they could safely perform an escharotomy.**Conclusion**: Our updated National Burn Service escharotomy resources have been evaluated and determined to be easy to use. By incorporating detailed illustrations, we have provided useful and effective escharotomy incision placement guidelines. Difficult areas of the body will require attention in future revisions of this resource. These updated illustrations are a vital step in allowing an escharotomy to be safely performed by those who need to perform an escharotomy but are unfamiliar with the procedure.

White islands in the sea of red

White islands in the sea of red

Ejecta blocks around the Kings Bowl phreatomagmatic crater in Idaho: An indication of subsurface water amounts with implications for Mars

The Kings Bowl lava field, associated with the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve on the Great Rift in Idaho, U.S.A., contains many explosive pits, the largest of which has a substantial field of ejecta blocks. These features were formed when lava supply diminished, the fissure was evacuated, and ground water entered. We have documented the properties of the ejecta block field: crater shape, the ejecta field to the west and the tephra field to the east, the vesicularity and density of the blocks, the block size distribution and the number of blocks per unit area as a function of distance from the crater, and the aspect ratios of the blocks. To the degree possible we compare the data to those of ejecta blocks at other phreatomagmatic craters on rifts especially, Deception Island, South Shetland Islands, and White Island, New Zealand, and find them similar. Many of the Kings Bowl ejecta characteristics can be described by relationships that have previously been published to describe ejecta blocks around impact craters. We have also performed ballistic and energy calculations to derive ejection velocities for the blocks consistent with our data. The “velocity exponent” b in the relationship d ​∝ ​vi-b where d is ejecta size and vi is the initial ejecta velocity for our data is around −3.0 and in the range previously observed for impact ejecta (−3.7 to −0.32), although at the small end.

Racial differences in cardiovascular disease mortality among cancer survivors.

12075 Background: Cancer survivors have an elevated risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD). Whether the risk differs by race/ethnicity and cancer type has not been fully explored in the U.S. Methods: Data from survivors of top 23 cancers diagnosed at ages 20 to 64 years during 2000-2018 were obtained from 17 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries. Risks for CVD death among survivors relative to the general population were calculated using standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) in each racial/ethnic group: Non-Hispanic White (NHW), Non-Hispanic Black (NHB), Hispanic, Non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander (API), and Non-Hispanic American Indian (AI). Among survivors, the risks were compared by race/ethnicity using cause-specific proportional hazards models for competing risks, controlling for year of diagnosis, age at diagnosis, sex, stage (when appropriate), and the first course of treatment receipt (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy). Results: Among 2,806,515 survivors (NHW, 68%; NHB, 13%; Hispanic, 12%; API, 7%; AI, 0.5%), 57,883 CVD deaths occurred during 6.4 person-years of mean follow-up (32 per 10,000). Cancer survivors overall were at increased risk of CVD death compared to their general population counterpart with an SMR of 1.76 among API (95% CI = 1.69-1.84; 8.7 excess deaths per 10,000), 1.49 among AI (95% CI = 1.33-1.68; 11.9 excess deaths per 10,000), 1.46 among Hispanic (95% CI = 1.41-1.50; 7.4 excess deaths per 10,000), 1.30 among NHB (95% CI = 1281-1.33; 14.9 excess deaths per 10,000), and 1.13 among NHW (95% CI = 1.12-1.14; 3.4 excess deaths per 10,000) survivors. Compared with NHW survivors, the adjusted hazard of CVD death was statistically significantly higher among NHB survivors for 23/23 cancers and among AI survivors for 9/18 cancers but was statistically significantly lower among Hispanic survivors for 5/23 cancers and among API survivors for 10/23 cancers, with no significant difference otherwise. The highest hazards ratios (HRs) were among NHB survivors of melanoma (HR = 3.19, 95% CI = 2.11-4.83); breast (HR = 2.73, 95% CI = 2.57-2.89); pancreatic (HR = 2.63, 95% CI = 2.19-3.16); and testicular (HR = 2.59, 95% CI = 1.62-4.14) cancers, whereas the lowest HRs were among API survivors of head and neck (HR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.44-0.63) and cervical (HR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.41-0.80) cancers and Hispanic survivors of cervical cancer (HR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.46-0.75). Conclusions: The risk of CVD death differs considerably among cancer survivors by race/ethnicity and cancer types, highlighting the need for targeted prevention and surveillance in primary care. Future studies are needed to identify factors that contribute to this variation in order to inform efforts towards mitigating risk.

Decoding water-rock interaction and volatile input at La Soufriere volcano (Guadeloupe) using time-series major and trace element analyses in gas condensates

The geochemical behavior of major and trace elements in fumarolic gas condensate samples collected between April 2017 and January 2021 was investigated at La Soufriere hydrothermal volcano. Samples collected from Cratère Sud and Napoleon Nord fumaroles (temperature varying from 93.9 to 108.4 °C) offer a unique opportunity to reveal the physicochemical processes that affect the deeper magmatic and shallow hydrothermal systems feeding fumaroles. Gas condensate samples exhibit abundant solid particles that suggest strong water-rock interaction and erosive processes in fumarolic conduits at La Soufriere. These particles were incorporated during sampling, except for rare Si-rich spherules that appeared to have precipitated during storage time. Gas condensate samples displayed abundant concentrations of S, halogens (Cl, Br, I), metals/metalloids (B, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sb, Pb, and Bi), as well as enhanced concentrations of rock-related lithophile and siderophile elements. The relative abundance of major and trace elements in gas condensates suggests the permanent contribution of volatile-rich magmatic fluids and strong water-rock interaction processes. Based on elemental correlations and the physical properties of chemical elements, it is postulated that most of them are discharged in the aerosol phase, except for the halogens and S, which can be found in the gaseous phase in low-temperature fumarolic emissions. Metals and metalloids (Sb, Bi, Zn, Mo, Ni, Ag, Cd, As, and Pb) enriched in gas condensates were transported within tiny aqueous droplets, while rock-related elements (including REEs) were transported in the aerosol phase. Trace element enrichments in La Soufriere's condensates are comparable with those found in worldwide magmatic-hydrothermal systems such as Kawaj Ijen (Indonesia), Lastarria (Chile), and White Island (New Zealand) volcanoes. The size of the hydrothermal system and the degree of water-rock interaction are thought to be important parameters in controlling the abundance of major and trace elements in low-temperature fumarolic discharge.

Burn Lessons Learned From the Whakaari White Island Volcanic Eruption.

New Zealand's most active volcano, Whakaari White Island was a common tourist attraction prior to its eruption on December 9, 2019. At the time of the eruption, there were 47 people on the island from 3 tour groups. Thirty-nine people survived the initial eruption and were extracted. Thirty-one entered into the New Zealand National Burn Service across four hospitals. The median age of the patients treated at the National Burn Centre was 45.5 years (range: 14-67 years) and median TBSA burn was 49.5% (range: 9%-90%). The 3-month survival of this eruptive event was 55%, which subsequently fell to an overall rate of 53% following one late death of an early survivor after repatriation home. Of the patients who survived the initial eruption for long enough to be admitted to the National Burn Service, the overall survival rate was 71% at 3 months. We describe 12 lessons we have learnt from our management of the survivors. The key surgical lessons among these are: 1) The injuring mechanism combined ballistic trauma, thermal and acidic burn components, with the acid component being the most problematic and urgent for management; 2) Volcanic ash burns result in ongoing burn depth progression, deep underlying tissue damage and significant metabolic instability; 3) Early skin grafting was not successful in many cases; 4) Reconstructive strategy needed adjusting to cope with the high operative demand and limited donor sites in all patients; 5) Protect yourself from potential dangers with additional personal protective equipment in an unfamiliar setting.

Study on performance traits of laying hens with crossing the White Leghorn and the Rhode Island breeds

The current steady increase in the global population is accompanied by a dramatic growth in demand for food, whose satisfaction relies heavily on animal protein sources. Poultry farming is already mankind’s key source of protein. Changes in consumer habits combined with the negative impacts of climate change are posing new challenges to poultry breeding companies today. Certain traits properties relating to egg production among offspring groups resulting from the crossing of the White Leghorn and the Rhode Island breeds show improvements relative to the corresponding properties of pure-bred offspring. This literature review is aimed at summing up experiments focusing on White Leghorn and Rhode Island crosses in terms of the main traits properties relating to egg production. Experiments involving the crossing of the White Leghorn and Rhode Island breeds tend to occur mainly during pure-bred poultry breeding. Studies discussing the performance of groups of offspring of White Leghorn (WL) and Rhode Island (RI) breeds, without analysing physiological types of experiments, have been few and far between in the past 20 years. Most of the few such studies originate from countries of the third world focusing in most cases on matters of feeding. This is explained, for the most part, by the fact that in the current period of modern poultry farming, only the world’s top breeding companies are in possession of high performance Leghorn and Rhode lines and they seldom ever publish scientific papers allowing glimpse into breeders’ development or strategic activities of breeders.

High Remanent Magnetization Measured in Hydrothermally Altered Lavas

AbstractMagnetic surveys are used to identify and monitor hydrothermally altered regions on volcanoes. Commonly such magnetic data are interpreted on the premise that hydrothermal alteration consumes Fe‐Ti oxides in the host rocks, reducing their total magnetization. Here, we report a contrasting observation from Whakaari (White Island) volcano in New Zealand. We study the magnetic properties of 42 conduit‐filling and surficial lithologies that have undergone varying degrees of acid‐sulfate alteration. We find that while the induced magnetization of lavas decreases with hydrothermal alteration, some altered lavas have an order of magnitude higher remanent magnetization than fresh lavas. We discuss plausible mechanisms by which altered lavas can retain high remanent magnetization including the importance of magnetic mineralogy and grain size. Our results urge caution in correlating reduced magnetization with hydrothermally altered regions. Furthermore, they highlight the importance of measuring both the induced and remanent magnetization of samples used to interpret field‐scale data.

Bioactivity of Cooked Standard and Enriched Whole Eggs from White Leghorn and Rhode Island Red in Exhibiting In-Vitro Antioxidant and ACE-Inhibitory Effects.

Hen breed, diet enrichment, cooking methods, and gastrointestinal (GI) digestion modulates the bioaccessibility of the bioactive compounds in eggs, but their synergistic role in modulating bioactivity is still unclear. The present study evaluates the effect of hen breed, diet enrichment, and GI digestion on the cooked whole egg-derived peptides in-vitro antioxidant and antihypertensive activities. Standard and enriched whole eggs from White Leghorn (WLH) and Rhode Island Red (RIR) hens were boiled or fried and subjected to GI digestion. Antioxidant activity was measured through oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and gastrointestinal epithelial cell-based assays, and the antihypertensive capacity by in-vitro Angiotensin-I Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibition assay. WLH fried standard egg hydrolysate showed a high ORAC antioxidant activity but failed to show any significant antioxidant effect in the cell-based assay. No significant differences were observed in the antihypertensive activity, although enriched samples tended to have a higher ACE-inhibitory capacity. The peptide profile explained the antioxidant capacities based on antioxidant structural requirements from different peptide fractions, while previously reported antihypertensive peptides were found in all samples. The study validates the importance of physiologically relevant models and requires future studies to confirm mechanisms that yield bioactive compounds in whole egg hydrolysates.

On Probability of Single Cult Complex of Achilles in Lower Buh Region in Archaic Times (Berezan – Beikush – Velyka Chornomorka II)

The discoveries at Cape Beikush allow us to significantly expand and refine our understanding of the nature and extent of local influence on the archaic cult of Achilles in the Northern Black Sea region. The decisive factor in the formation of the archaic cult of Achilles in the Northern Black Sea region at the initial stage was the meeting of the colonists with a powerful ideological phenomenon – the veneration of the local tribes (relic Aryans) almost continuously, since the IV millennium BCE, AXI-the Serpent – the first Ancestor and personification of the Indo-European worldview born in the Northern Black Sea region.
 The earliest archaeological evidence of the Achilles worship in the Northern Black Sea region dates from the end of the VII – early VI centuries BC and is associated with a cult complex of Achilles in the Lower Buh region (‘Lower Pobuzhzhia’), combining Berezan’, Beikush and Velyka Chornomorka II. This allows us to distinguish a special and earliest stage in the development of the cult of Achilles in the Northern Black Sea region: the end of the VII – early V centuries BCE, when the sanctuary of Achilles on Beikush ceased to exist. After that, in other places of Achilles’ worship in the Northern Black Sea region, the «Serpent» features of the cult of Achilles on Beikush were no longer repeated. In other words, the image and cult of Achilles was no longer associated with serpents. This indicates a gradual loss of syncretism of these images and cults due to the decline of local, «barbaric» influence on them after the 5th century BCE.
 This is also due to the fact that AXI-the «Serpent-ancestor» was for the Greek colonists, obviously, an alien deity. The subsequent transfer of the center of the veneration of Achilles to the Island of Levke seems to be the realization of the need to bring the cult important for further colonization (to completely abandon the cult of AXI-the Serpent – the «master» of the Northern Black Sea Region to the colonists, surrounded by «barbarians», was clearly unprofitable) in accordance with the already existing legends about the White Island and Homer’s Achilles, as well as with the «norms» of the Delphic oracle, which clearly did not meet the «barbarian» Beikush. The appearance in Roman times of the cult of Achilles Pontarchus – the «Lord of the Black Sea» and God cannot be explained by anything other than the great importance of the prototype of Achilles in the Northern Black Sea region in previous times, from the beginning of the formation of the Indo-European community.

Volcanic disruption: the impact of Whakaari White Island on the provision of elective surgical care in Counties Manukau.

On 9 December 2019, Whakaari White Island erupted while 47 people were on the island. Thirty-one people were subsequently hospitalized. Fourteen volcanic burn victims were managed at the National Burns Centre at Middlemore Hospital. Between December 2019 and March 2020 these patients required 124 procedures in theatre, using 23 709 operative minutes. Elective surgical lists were cancelled to fulfil this demand for acute operating theatre time and theatre staff. To quantify the elective surgical resource lost in the aftermath of the Whakaari White Island eruption by surgical specialty. A data set listing all surgical procedures undertaken within Counties Manukau District Health Board during the period 1 December 2019-1 March 2020 and the corresponding months from the preceding 3 years was analysed. Sum operating time and procedures post-Whakaari were compared with the average of the prior 3 years to quantify loss in resource. In the 3 months post-Whakaari, 698 fewer elective operations were completed across all surgical specialties than the average of the previous 3 years, a decrease of 26.3%. All major surgical specialties except urology showed an absolute decrease in elective procedures completed. The most significant decrease was the 59.1% (533 procedures) loss in plastic surgery elective procedures, with no sign of recovery by March 2021. The plastic surgery department was the worst affected by the Whakaari disaster. Overall elective surgical delivery within Counties Manukau was substantially impacted, and would not yet recover by the time of the national COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020.

Heterogeneity around CO2 vents obscures the effects of ocean acidification on shallow reef communities

AbstractStudies that use CO2 vents as natural laboratories to investigate the impacts of ocean acidification (OA) typically employ control-impact designs or local-scale gradients in pH or pCO2, where impacted sites are compared to reference sites. While these strategies can accurately represent well-defined and stable vent systems in relatively homogenous environments, it may not adequately encompass the natural variability of heterogeneous coastal environments where many CO2 vents exist. Here, we assess the influence of spatial heterogeneity on the perceived impacts of OA at a vent system well established in the OA literature. Specifically, we use a multi-scale approach to investigate and map the spatial variability in seawater pH and benthic communities surrounding vents at Whakaari-White Island, New Zealand to better understand the scale and complexity of ecological impacts of an acidified environment. We found a network of vents embedded in complex topography throughout the study area, and spatially variable pH and pCO2 levels. The distribution of habitats (i.e. macroalgal forests and turfing algae) was most strongly related to substratum type and sea urchin densities, rather than pH. Epifaunal communities within turfing algae differed with sampling distance from vents, but this pattern was driven by higher abundances of a number of taxa immediately adjacent to vents, where pH and temperature gradients are steep and white bacterial mats are prevalent. Our results contrast with previous studies at White Island that have used a control-impact design and suggested significant impacts of elevated CO2 on benthic communities. Instead, we demonstrate a highly heterogeneous reef where it is difficult to separate effects of reduced pH from spatial variation in reef communities. We urge that future research carefully considers and quantifies the biological and physical complexity of venting environments, and suggest that in dynamic systems, such as White Island, the use of control-impact designs can oversimplify and potentially overestimate the future impacts of OA.

Evaluation of novel genomic markers for pedigree construction in an isolated population of Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) at White Island, Antarctica

Evaluation of novel genomic markers for pedigree construction in an isolated population of Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) at White Island, Antarctica

Magma mixing, degassing and late sulfide saturation: Insights into the 1976–2000 eruptive sequence at White Island, New Zealand

This paper reports new petrological and chemical data of ejecta from the 1976–2000 eruptive sequence of White Island, New Zealand. We provide evidence of mixing between shallow stored (0.7–1 km) andesitic to dacitic melts and deeper primitive mafic magma carrying high-Fo olivine, repeatedly injected throughout the sequence. Melt inclusions hosted in plagioclase, pyroxene and olivine were analyzed for major, trace and volatile elements. The low H2O contents in inclusions suggest it exsolves at depth while SO2 degassing is recorded during the rise and crystallization of the mafic magma. The higher solubility of Cl (as HCl and NaCl) delays its exsolution until shallow depth. Convection degassing is suggested to explain the large imbalance between elevated gas emissions and low amount of lava erupted. Frequent inputs of gas-rich, deeply derived magma are essential drivers for the counterflow of viscous degassed melts. Metal contents (Cu, Zn) of the residual mafic magma increases during olivine crystallization. This behavior changes during shallow differentiation of the andesitic magma, with metals leaving the silicate melt. While some metals may be lost to degassing, Cu, Ni, Ag and Au strongly partition into an immiscible sulfide melt. Saturation of such a sulfide melt phase occurs in the shallow environment, likely related to changes in redox state associated with magnetite crystallization and/or SO2 degassing.

Floating protective barriers: evaluation of seaworthiness through physical testing, numerical simulations and field deployment

Floating protective barriers provide essential protection to critical governmental, commercial, and private assets that are vulnerable to water-borne intrusion, such as liquefied natural gas terminals, tankers, etc. These barriers require additional evaluation in the case of their deployment at significant water depth in offshore environments. The seaworthiness of the Triton® barrier design developed by HALO Maritime Defense Systems (US) was investigated through a combination of field deployment, physical testing and numerical simulations. The full-scale Triton® barrier, deployed and inspected south-southwest of White Island, Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire, provided important information on its dynamic behavior and the overall structural integrity under monitored environmental conditions. Physical tests of a Froude-scaled barrier model were conducted in Chase Ocean Engineering Laboratory wave tank at the University of New Hampshire to properly measure response of the structure and its mooring to different single-frequency waves directed parallel and normal to the model. Both physical tests and field study load cases were numerically simulated in finite element Hydro-FE software. The comparisons indicated a good correspondence between physical tests and numerical models in terms of heave, pitch, roll and force response amplitude operators. Overall, the full-scale Triton® barrier has demonstrated robust performance during the offshore field deployment.