We cannot hope to understand global volcanism without comprehensive data from the most active volcanoes on Earth.
Volcanic degassing fuels eruptions and drives atmospheric evolution. Scientists have focused on emissions from accessible volcanoes in developed countries, but up to one third of the world’s volcanic gases come from the chronically under-studied volcanoes of Melanesia (Vanuatu - Solomon Islands - Papua New Guinea). It is crucial that we measure emissions from these remote volcanoes if we hope to understand global volcanism and its atmospheric effects.
Join us by following expeditions that are made possible by the Marsden Fund from New Zealand’s Royal Society Te Apārangi, where we will measure the gases, aerosols, and isotopic signatures at more than twenty Melanesian volcanoes on land and under the sea. We will use state-of-the-art tools, including gas sampling drones and submersibles, and travel from volcano-to-volcano sustainably and efficiently on traditional Māori/Melanesian “waka/vaka” (ocean going canoes).
By combining modern volcanology with traditional knowledge, we will address the fact that for people all around the Pacific, volcanic hazards and their effects on climate are “He waka eke noa” or “the canoe we are all in without exception”.
The Vaka Motu from the Okeanos Foundation for the Sea will be our mobile volcano observatory in Melanesia.
VOLCANOES
Some of the most active volcanoes on Earth are in Melanesia. We will analyze gases from all of them.
WAKA
Pacific peoples live with active volcanoes, and have invaluable knowledge about them.
PARTNERS
Drones in the air and under the sea allow access to even the most inaccessible volcanic plumes.
NEWS
Follow the adventure, as traditional knowledge and cutting-edge science meet.
Contact Us
Waka lab HQ
School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600
Wellington 6140
New Zealand