Whakaari White Island
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Whakaari / White Island (, mi, Te Puia Whakaari, lit. "the dramatic volcano"), also known as White Island or Whakaari, is an active andesite
stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...
situated from the east coast of the
North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
of New Zealand, in the Bay of Plenty. The island covers an area of approximately , which is just the peak of a much larger
submarine volcano Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...
. The island is New Zealand's most active cone volcano, and has been built up by continuous volcanic activity over the past 150,000 years. The nearest mainland towns are Whakatane and Tauranga. The island has been in a nearly continuous stage of releasing volcanic gas at least since it was sighted by
James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...
in 1769. Whakaari erupted continually from December 1975 until September 2000, and also erupted in 2012, 2016, and 2019. Sulphur was mined on the island until the 1930s. Ten miners were killed in 1914 when part of the crater wall collapsed. The main activities on the island now include guided tours and scientific research. Access to the island is allowed only as a member of a tour run by a registered tour operator. A large eruption occurred at 14:11 on 9 December 2019, which resulted in 22 fatalities, including two people who were missing and ruled to be dead by a coroner. Twenty-five survivors were seriously injured, many critically and suffering severe burns. Three survivors suffered minor injuries. Forty-seven people were reportedly on the island when it erupted. A second eruption closely followed the first.


Geography

Whakaari / White Island is an irregular oval in shape, with a length (northwest–southeast) of and a width of , and covers an area of approximately . It lies in the Bay of Plenty from the North Island mainland, due north of the town of Opotiki and north-northeast of Whakatāne. The island's active crater lies slightly southeast of the island's centre, and contains an acidic lake. The crater has a sharp rim to the northwest, with its highest point (also the island's highest point) being the Mount Gisborne in the west. The Mount Percival forms the northern part of the rim. An older vent, the Mount Ngatoro, lies to the northwest.Whakaari / White Island
" ''topomap.co.nz''. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
The exposed island is only the peak of a much larger
submarine volcano Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...
, which rises up to above the nearby seafloor. The island is generally rugged, with cliffs surrounding most of the coast. The only exceptions are to the southeast of the crater, where ash and boulder slopes descend to Te Awapuia Bay (also known as Crater Bay), the site of derelict buildings and the island's wharf. This bay lies between a prominent headland, Troup Head, at the island's southeastern extreme, and the island's southernmost point, Otaketake, which is the site of one of the island's gannet colonies. Another colony exists at Te Hokowhitu, the cliff which forms much of the western coast of the island. Several rock reefs and islets are located along the island's northeast coast, and there is also a rock reef at Troup Head. A small islet, Club Rocks, lies south of Otaketake Point. It consists of a set of four sea stacks rising to more than above sea level. In addition, four sea stacks collectively known as Volckner Rocks lie northwest of Whakaari / White Island. Three of these sea stacks rise precipitously from the sea floor (less than below sea level) to a maximum height of m above sea level. The fourth sea stack is just an eroded stump.


Geology

Whakaari / White Island is an andesitedacite stratovolcano that consists of two overlapping volcanic cones, which are the Ngatoro and Central cones. The Ngatoro Cone is extinct and partially eroded. The amphitheatre-shaped Central Cone is an active cone. The crater of Central Cone is open to the southeast as the result of major, past flank
landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...
s involving hydrothermally altered rock and past phreatic and phreatomagmatic eruptions. the Ngatoro Cone and Central cones are both constructed of alternating layers of lava flows, tuffs,
agglomerate Agglomerate (from the Latin ''agglomerare'' meaning "to form into a ball") is a coarse accumulation of large blocks of volcanic material that contains at least 75% bombs. Volcanic bombs differ from volcanic blocks in that their shape records flui ...
s, tephra, igneous dikes, and breccias. Some of these
strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...
have been altered to varying degrees by highly corrosive and acid
hydrothermal fluid Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water (Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, ''water'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with th ...
s and gases.Cole, J.W., Thordarson, T. and Burt, R.M., 2000. ''Magma origin and evolution of White Island (Whakaari) volcano, Bay of plenty, New Zealand''. ''Journal of Petrology'', 41(6), pp.867–895.Moon, V., Bradshaw, J. and de Lange, W., 2009. ''Geomorphic development of White Island Volcano based on slope stability modelling.'' ''Engineering Geology'', 104(1–2), pp.16–30.Jimenez, C., 2015. ''Magmatic-hydrothermal system at White Island volcano, North Island, New Zealand''. in M. Calder, ed., pp. 35–46, ''JCU SEG Student Chapter New Zealand, North Island Field Trip 2015 Guide Book.'' Queensland, Australia: James Cook University SEG Student Chapter, Society of Economic Geologists, Inc. The modern crater floor of Whakaari / White Island lies less than above sea level and is largely covered by material from the 1914
debris avalanche Debris flows are geological phenomena in which water-laden masses of soil and fragmented rock rush down mountainsides, funnel into stream channels, entrain objects in their paths, and form thick, muddy deposits on valley floors. They generally ...
. The main crater contains three coalescing sub-craters. The sub-craters are aligned NW-SE within the amphitheatre-shaped Central Cone. The open sea breaches the south-eastern crater wall in three places to form Shark, Te Awapuia, and Wilson bays, which Troup Head and Pinnacle Head separate from each other. Long-lived, semi-continuous, weak,
hydrothermal explosion Hydrothermal explosions occur when superheated water trapped below the surface of the earth rapidly converts from liquid to steam, violently disrupting the confining rock. Boiling water, steam, mud, and rock fragments are ejected over an area of a ...
s, similar to those occurring in the Western sub-crater today, are regarded to have formed these three bays as hydrothermal explosion
craters Crater may refer to: Landforms * Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet * Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surf ...
. Whakaari / White Island and the sea stacks that form Club Rocks and Volckner Rocks are the emergent summits of a larger, × , submarine volcano. It is known as ''White Island Volcano'' and has a total volume of . The bathymetry surrounding the emergent summit of Whakaari / White Island consists of a broad, sloping shelf extending from sea level to approximately depth. Steep margins define the extent of the submarine volcano at a depths of Duncan, A.R., 1970. ''The petrology and petrochemistry of andesite volcanoes in Eastern Bay of Plenty, New Zealand''. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. pp.362 The amphitheatre-shaped crater of the modern Central Cone is argued to have been created by the collapse of the former cone of the White Island Volcano to the southwest. Based on extrapolating 20 m GIS contour data to enclose the present crater and upwards with a maximum slope angle of 30°, the former pre-collapse summit was inferred to have been high. Side-scan and bathymetric data indicate possible debris flows associated with its collapse that can be traced back to the current crater on White Island. One of these debris flows exited the crater on the southern side of Troup Head and towards the southeast. It produced well-defined boulder-covered lobes on the seafloor. Another debris flow exited the modern crater on the northern side of Troup Head and through several submarine valleys towards the east into deep water. It produced boulder-covered valley-fill deposits. The latter debris flow was large enough to have produced a significant tsunami. As a result of the collapse of the former cone of the White Island Volcano, it is suspected to have generated a high tsunami that flooded the coast of Bay of Plenty as much as inland between 3,000 and 2,200 B.P.de Lange, W.P., Hansford, A. and Moon, V.G., 2006. ''Tsunami generation by island edifice failure at White Island and Motuhora Volcanos, New Zealand.'' In F. Foley, et al., eds., pp. 405–416. ''Earthquakes and Urban Development: New Zealand Geotechnical Society 2006 Symposium, Nelson, February 2006.'' New Zealand, Wellington: Institution of Professional Engineers.de Lange, W. and Moon, V., 2016. Volcanic generation of tsunamis: two New Zealand palaeoevents. in G. Lamarche et al., eds., pp. 559–567, ''Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences: 7th International Symposium.'' ''Natural and Technological Hazards Research 41.'' Switzerland, Zurich, Springer Nature.


Volcanology

Whakaari / White Island lies in the northern end of the
Taupō Volcanic Zone The Taupō Volcanic Zone (TVZ) is a volcanic area in the North Island of New Zealand that has been active for the past two million years and is still highly active. Mount Ruapehu marks its south-western end and the zone runs north-eastward thro ...
. The Taupō Volcanic Zone forms the southernmost segment of the -long Tonga–Kermadec–Taupō volcanic arc system and the Lau Basin–Havre Trough–Ngatoro Basin back-arc basin system.


Geological history

For the past few thousand years, Whakaari / White Island has been the location for an open, highly reactive hydrothermal system. This hydrothermal system expresses itself as hot springs and mud pools, fumaroles, and acid streams and lakes. The present centre for volcanic activity and outgassing is a large crater lake of boiling acidic waters located in the western subcrater. The intermixing mélange of marine waters, meteoric waters, and hot magmatic fluids generate acid brines, with pH as low as 2, that outgas and form numerous and often transitory hot springs and mud pools, fumaroles, and acid streams and lakes. The crater lake of boiling acidic water, which occupies the western subcrater, appears to vary in volume due to changing meteorological conditions and fluctuating levels of hydrothermal activity.Christenson, B.W., White, S., Britten, K. and Scott, B.J., 2017. ''Hydrological evolution and chemical structure of a hyper-acidic spring-lake system on Whakaari/White Island, NZ.'' ''Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research,'' 346, pp.180–211.Heap, M.J., Kennedy, B.M., Pernin, N., Jacquemard, L., Baud, P., Farquharson, J.I., Scheu, B., Lavallée, Y., Gilg, H.A., Letham-Brake, M. and Mayer, K., 2015. ''Mechanical behaviour and failure modes in the Whakaari (White Island volcano) hydrothermal system, New Zealand.'' ''Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research'', 295, pp.26–42.Heap, M.J., Kennedy, B.M., Farquharson, J.I., Ashworth, J., Mayer, K., Letham-Brake, M., Reuschlé, T., Gilg, H.A., Scheu, B., Lavallée, Y. and Siratovich, P., 2017. ''A multidisciplinary approach to quantify the permeability of the Whakaari/White Island volcanic hydrothermal system (Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand).'' ''Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research,'' 332, pp.88–108. Although Strombolian activity occurred from the late seventies to the mid-eighties,
explosive eruption In volcanology, an explosive eruption is a volcanic eruption of the most violent type. A notable example is the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Such eruptions result when sufficient gas has dissolved under pressure within a viscous magma such ...
s at Whakaari / White Island are typically phreatic or phreatomagmatic in style. The lava flows,
ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
, and pyroclastic flows produced by historic and prehistoric eruptions are andesitic and dacitic in composition. These eruptions also produce discrete craters within crater-fill deposits of the Central Cone. Since 1826, there has been a minimum of 28 phreatic or phreatomagmatic eruptions. In addition, prehistoric eruptions have also extruded lava. The lava flows from these prehistoric eruptions are exposed crater walls of the Central Cone. Whakaari / White Island's frequent activity and easy access attract scientists and volcanologists as well as many tourists. For example, this volcano provides a readily studied example of the type of volcanic magmatic–hydrothermal system involved in the generation of porphyry copper deposits.Hedenquist, J.W., Simmons, S.F., Giggenbach, W.F., and Eldridge, C.S., 1993. "White Island, New Zealand, volcanic-hydrothermal system represents the geochemical environment of high-sulfidation Cu and Au ore deposition", ''Geology'', v. 21, pp. 731–734.Mandon, C. L., 2017
''Volatile transport of metals in the andesitic magmatic-hydrothermal system of White Island,''
unpublished PhD dissertation. Wellington, New Zealand: School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington. 209 pp.
Volcanologists from th
GeoNet Project
continually monitor the volcano's activity via surveillance cameras. Survey pegs,
magnetometer A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, o ...
s and
seismography A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground noises and shaking such as caused by earthquakes, Types of volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to f ...
equipment for early earthquake warnings via radio were installed on the crater walls in 1976.Chardot, L., Jolly, A.D., Kennedy, B.M., Fournier, N. and Sherburn, S., 2015. ''Using volcanic tremor for eruption forecasting at White Island volcano (Whakaari), New Zealand.'' ''Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research,'' 302, pp.11–23. At most times the volcanic activity is limited to steaming fumaroles and boiling mud, but gas and ash emissions are common, and the island is typically on an alert level rating of 1 or 2 on a scale of 0 to 5; as "Level 2 is the highest alert level before an eruption takes place and indicates 'moderate to heightened volcanic unrest' with the 'potential for eruption hazards.'" The volcano is also monitored by the
Deep Earth Carbon Degassing Project Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) project is an initiative to unite scientists around the world to make tangible advances towards quantifying the amount of carbon outgassed from the Earth's deep interior (core, mantle, crust) into the surface env ...
. In March 2000, three small vents appeared in the main crater and began belching ash which covered the island in fine grey powder. An eruption on 27 July 2000 blanketed the island with mud and scoria and a new crater appeared. Major eruptions in 1981–83 altered much of the island's landscape and destroyed the extensive pōhutukawa forest. The large crater created at that time now contains a lake, whose level varies substantially. Between July and August 2012 the island showed signs of increased activity with lake and gas levels rising from inside the crater. On 5 August 2012 a minor eruption occurred, sending ash into the air. More eruptions have followed since. Ongoing volcanic activity and tremors on 25 January 2013 suggested another eruption was imminent. A small eruption occurred on 20 August 2013 at 10:23 am, lasting for ten minutes and producing mostly steam.


2019 eruption

In November 2019, background activity at Whakaari increased and gas, steam and mud was being ejected from the crater. At 14:11 NZDT on 9 December 2019, Whakaari / White Island erupted. It was reported that there were forty-seven people on the island when the eruption happened. Twenty-two people were killed, including two people who are missing and confirmed dead on 23 January 2020, and a further twenty-five were seriously injured, many critically. The bodies of two victims have not been recovered and may have been lost to the sea. The ongoing seismic and volcanic activity in the area and subsequently heavy rainfall as well as low visibility and toxic gases all hampered recovery efforts. Experts identified the event as a
phreatic eruption A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evapo ...
: a release of steam and volcanic gases which caused an explosion, launching rock and ash into the air. Minor ash emissions were observed on 23 and 26 December, but no further eruptions occurred. Visual observations conducted in January showed that lava had been extruded into the vents created by the eruption on 9 December.


History


Name

The
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
name Whakaari is recorded in multiple 19th century texts by Europeans, with one mention dating back to 1849, though spelling varied including Wakaari, Whakari, and Whaka ari. The name Whakaari means "to make visible" or "exposed to view". The full Māori name for the island is , meaning "The Dramatic Volcano". Whakaari was named "White Island" by Captain Cook on 1 November 1769, Cook noted in his journal I have named it White Island because as such it always appeared to us. According to LINZ this name came from the dense clouds of white steam emanating from it. Alternatively, he may have been alluding to the
guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...
deposits that once covered the island. Although Cook sailed close to the island, he did not record that it was a volcano. The island's official name was changed from "White Island (Whakaari)" to "Whakaari / White Island" in 1997. This makes it one of many places in New Zealand with dual Māori and English names.


Mythology

Some Māori myths describe Whakaari as part of
Ngātoro-i-rangi In Māori tradition, Ngātoro-i-rangi (Ngātoro) is the name of a tohunga (priest) prominent during the settling of New Zealand ( Aotearoa) by the Māori people, who came from the traditional homeland Hawaiki on the '' Arawa'' canoe. He is the an ...
's ascent of Tongariro. In one account, he called on his ancestors for warmth; the fire was kindled on Whakaari and brought to him. Other versions of this story are similar but it is his sisters, or the gods, who send him warmth from Whakaari. Other stories give origin stories for the island. One states that it rose from the deep after the god
Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
, having first touched fire was so greatly tortured by the pain that he instantly dived under water to calm his pain; and in the place where he shook the fire from him arose Whakaari. Another tells that
Moutohora Island Moutohora Island (previously known as Whale Island) ( mi, Moutohorā) is a small uninhabited island located off the Bay of Plenty coast of New Zealand's North Island, about north of the town of Whakatane. The island is a remnant of a complex ...
and Whakaari / White Island were peaks in the Huiarau Range near Waikaremoana but were jealous of each other, and rushed towards the ocean, leaving behind them the tracks that now form the Whakatane valley and either the Tauranga or Te Waimana valley. Whakaari was faster, so got to the better position where it stands today.


Industry

Attempts were made in the mid-1880s, again from 1898 to 1901, and then from 1913 to 1914, to mine
sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
from Whakaari / White Island, with the island at first being owned by John Wilson. Mining came to a halt in September 1914, when part of the western crater rim collapsed, creating a
lahar A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extreme ...
that killed all 10 workers, who disappeared without a trace. Only a camp cat survived, found some days afterwards by the resupply ship and dubbed "Peter the Great". In 1923, mining was again attempted but, learning from the 1914 disaster, the miners built their huts on a flat part of the island near a gannet colony. Each day they would lower their boat into the sea from a gantry, and row around to the mining factory wharf in Crater Bay. If the sea was rough they had to clamber around the rocks on a very narrow track on the crater's edge. Before the days of
antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of ...
s, sulphur was used as an antibacterial agent in medicines, in the making of match-heads, and for sterilising wine corks. The sulphur was hauled to the crushing plant in small rail trucks, and a bagging facility was also constructed. However, there was not enough sulphur in the material mined at the island, so the ground-up rock was used as a component of agricultural fertiliser. Mining ended in the 1930s, because of the inadequate mineral content in the fertiliser. The remains of the buildings involved can still be seen, heavily corroded by the sulphuric gases.


Ownership

The ownership of Whakaari / White Island was one of the first two cases heard by the Native Land Court of New Zealand (now called the Māori Land Court), the other being ownership of nearby Motuhora. Retireti Tapihana (Tapsell) brought the case in 1867, claiming ownership. Retireti was the son of
Phillip Tapsell Phillip Tapsell, born Hans Homan Jensen Falk (1777/1791? – 6 or 7 August 1873) was a Danish mariner, whaler, and trader who settled in New Zealand. Tapsell first arrived in New Zealand at the Bay of Islands on the ''New Zealander'' on 26 March 1 ...
and
Hine-i-tūrama Ngātiki Hine-i-tūrama Ngātiki (1818 – 2 April 1864) was a New Zealand Māori woman of mana, who identified with the Ngāti Whakaue iwi within Te Arawa. She was born in New Zealand in 1818, the daughter of Te Koeke and her husband Kahana-tokowai, f ...
. Ownership was awarded jointly to Retireti Tapihana and his sister, Katherine Simpkins. In 1874, the island was sold to the partnership John Wilson and William Kelly by the estate of Retireti Tapihana (Tapsell). Wilson and Kelly subsequently leased it to the Auckland-based partnership of Stewart and Appleby, however after the conditions of the lease were unfulfilled; it was put up for lease again. The island is privately owned by the Buttle Family Trust. It was bought by George Raymond Buttle, a stockbroker, in 1936. Buttle later refused to sell it to the government, but agreed in 1952 that it be declared a private scenic reserve.


Local government

The island is not included in the boundaries of a
territorial authority Territorial authorities are the second tier of local government in New Zealand, below regional councils. There are 67 territorial authorities: 13 city councils, 53 district councils and the Chatham Islands Council. District councils serve a c ...
council (district council) and the Minister of Local Government is its territorial authority, with support from the Department of Internal Affairs. The functions of the territorial authority are limited, as the island is uninhabited, the land is undeveloped and it is privately owned. The island is within the boundaries of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council for regional council functions.


Natural life

Whakaari / White Island is one of New Zealand's main breeding colonies for Australasian gannets. Thousands of gannets come to the island each year to mate, raise chicks, and feed on the fish in the water around it. There is little vegetation on the island itself, but seaweed grows in the waters around it and gannet parents harvest it to cool off chicks. An ornithologist who visited in 1912 found five species and identified four; in addition to gannets they found
red-billed gull The red-billed gull (''Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae scopulinus''), also known as tarāpunga and once also known as the mackerel gull, is a native of New Zealand, being found throughout the country and on outlying islands including the Chatham ...
s, great-winged petrels, and white-fronted terns.
BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
has declared the island to be an
Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
because of the gannets' nesting colony.


Access

Whakaari / White Island is privately owned. It was declared a private scenic reserve in 1953, and is subject to the provisions of the
Reserves Act 1977 The Reserves Act 1977 is an Act of Parliament passed in New Zealand. It is administered by the Department of Conservation It contains provisions for the acquisition, control, management, maintenance, development and use of public reserves. Ty ...
. Visitors cannot land without permission. However, it is easily accessible by authorised tourist operators. The waters surrounding the island are well known for their fish stocks. Yellowtail kingfish abound all year, while there is deep-water fishing for hapuka and bluenose (a type of warehou) in the winter. In the summer, blue, black and striped marlin, as well as yellowfin tuna can be caught. A small charter fleet, offering day trips and overnight or longer trips, operates from the nearby port at Whakatane. On-land tours of the island have not been operating since the 2019 eruption. File:White Island crater lake, March 2004.jpg, The crater lake in 2004 File:White Island Lake n.jpg, Aerial view of the crater lake in 2005 File:White Island fumarole.ogv, Short video of sulphurous fumarole on White Island


See also

* List of islands of New Zealand *
List of volcanoes in New Zealand This is a partial list of active, dormant, and extinct volcanoes in New Zealand. Kermadec Arc and Havre Trough North Island Taupō Volcanic Zone Elsewhere Mangakino Culdera South Island Other Ross Dependency New Zealand a ...
*
Volcanology of New Zealand The volcanism of New Zealand has been responsible for many of the country's geographical features, especially in the North Island and the country's outlying islands. While the land's volcanism dates back to before the Zealandia microcontinent ...


Notes


References

*
Volcanic Hazards at White Island

White Island
Volcano World


External links


White Island crater volcano camera
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whakaari White Island Taupō Volcanic Zone Active volcanoes Islands of the Bay of Plenty Region VEI-2 volcanoes Volcanic crater lakes Former populated places in New Zealand Important Bird Areas of New Zealand Stratovolcanoes of New Zealand Articles containing video clips Volcanic islands of New Zealand Private islands of New Zealand Sulfur mines Volcanoes of the Bay of Plenty Region Whakatane Graben