The Vaka Motu from the Okeanos Foundation Photo: Stephen Wells/Sacha Leonidas
An expedition is underway to study the gas emissions of Vanuatu volcanoes.
Vanuatu is an archipelago which contains a number of active ones. From Tanna Island in the south, to Tinakula, which is also part of the Solomon Islands, volcanoes make up part of the islands.
Some of these volcanoes have barely been studied, due to their remoteness and inaccessibility.
Dr Ian Schipper, a Vulcanologist at Victoria University - Te Herenga Waka, is part of the international team.
In order to travel to the volcanoes around Vanuatu, and to collect and measure volcanic gaseous emissions, Dr Schipper will not be travelling in a large, diesel-powered research vessel. Instead, he and his team are making the trip in a waka.
This decision was not made solely for cultural, but for practical reasons. Used by Polynesian navigators for millennia, a waka will be able to navigate "nimbly" through the islands, but also can be safely grounded on beaches.
Collecting samples Photo: Sacha Leonidas
It is an interesting fusion of an ancient traditional technology with the modern gear, which will collect the gas emissions.
Dr Schipper told RNZ Pacific the waka becomes far more than just a practical mode of transportation.
"It's also a link to the history, the history of observations made by people living on these volcanoes - which is where a lot of our long-term historical information about how active these volcanoes are - will come from."
He expects that to collect data from each volcano will only require a day or two of good weather.
This is not Dr Schipper's first trip into the Pacific. Last year he sailed to some of the places he will be collecting emissions from. Along the way he met with local authorities and chiefs, and he aims to continue building local relationships during his waka voyage.
The data collected will likely be published in scientific journals, but also will serve as an example of how scientific investigations in the Pacific can be carried out in a more environmentally friendly and culturally responsive way.
Drone research Photo: Sacha Leonidas
Dr Schipper also spoke about the importance of gathering local knowledge about volcanic activity and being able to build a picture of the impact that eruptions have on the local people, as well as the global environment.
"On our last visit to Epi Island, there had been an eruption of a submarine volcano just off the coast of Epi Island in, I guess, late 2023, and that submarine volcano was scientifically on our radar to go check out with our submersible.
"But I really did not have any appreciation for the social impact that eruption had on the people, especially on the northern coast of Epi Island, and it was only in visiting there, when we were speaking to the chiefs and the locals, that I realized just how much impact this had.
"Because there's no active volcanoes on Epi and so the people there are not accustomed to living with an actively erupting volcano, unlike on Tanna, where Mount Yasur is erupting all the time, the people there are well accustomed to living in that kind of environment.
"But when they [Epi islanders] saw an eruption rising from the ocean off their coast... that was a shock to the people, and so when we arrived, they immediately wanted to know more about it."
He said this shows there's a lot that can come out of the study - "not just understanding what the carbon sulphur ratio is of the gasses, which is what we can publish in our journals, but also, what is the impact? What is the potential?"
The Vaka Motu anchored at Epi Island during Dr Ian Schipper's reconnaissance trip there in September 2024. Photo: Sacha Leonidas
Dr Schipper expressed his gratitude to the Royal Society, for the Marsden funding his project had received in 2018, as well as the Okeanos Foundation and the Te Toki Voyaging Trust.
Despite delays, including macro events such as the global pandemic and micro events such as lightning strikes, the project was finally going ahead.
