Raoul Island
Elevation:	516 m
Coordinates:	29.27° S 177.92° W
Location:	Kermadec Islands
Type:	Stratovolcano
Last eruption:	2006

Raoul Island as seen by STS-8 in 1983

Orthographic projection over Raoul Island

Wikinews has news related to:

• New Zealand Department of Conservation leaves Raoul Island, minus one
• Remote New Zealand island evacuated as volcano erupts

Anvil-shaped Raoul Island (Sunday Island), the largest and northernmost of the Kermadec Islands, (located at 29°15′S 177°55′W, 900 km SSW of Ata Island of Tonga and 1100 km NNE of New Zealand), has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity during the past several thousand years that was dominated by dacitic explosive eruptions. Image File history File links Raoul_island. ... Basic Definition In geography, the elevation of a geographic location is its height above mean sea level (or some other fixed point). ... This article is about longitude and latitude; see also UTM coordinate system Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (vertically) and longitude (horizontally); large version (pdf) The geographic (earth-mapping) coordinate system expresses every horizontal position on Earth by two of the three coordinates of a spherical coordinate system which... The Kermadec Islands are an island arc in the Pacific Ocean. ... Mountains can be characterized in several ways. ... A stratovolcano, is a tall, conical mountain (volcano) composed of both hardened lava and volcanic ash. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (640x640, 360 KB) STS008-36-1403 Raoul Island, Kermadec Islands September 1983 The most active volcanic island of all of the Kermadec Islands, Raoul can be seen in this south-looking view. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (640x640, 360 KB) STS008-36-1403 Raoul Island, Kermadec Islands September 1983 The most active volcanic island of all of the Kermadec Islands, Raoul can be seen in this south-looking view. ... STS-8 was the eighth Space Shuttle mission, the third for Challenger. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Orthographic_projection_over_Raoul_Island. ... Image File history File links Orthographic_projection_over_Raoul_Island. ... Image File history File links Wikinews-logo. ... Wikinews is a free content news source and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. ... The Kermadec Islands are an island arc in the Pacific Ocean. ... This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... Gray, red, black, altered white/tan, flow-banded pumice dacite Dacite is a high-silica igneous, volcanic rock. ...

The area of the island, including fringing islets and rocks mainly in the Northeast, but also a few smaller ones in the Southeast, is 29.38 km². The highest elevation is Moumoukai peak, at an elevation of 516 m.

The island is uninhabited, except for the permanently manned Raoul Island Station, a government meteorological and radio station and hostel for Department of Conservation (DOC) officers and volunteers that has been maintained since 1937 on the northern terraces of the island, about 50 m in elevation above the cliffs of Fleetwood Bluff. Raoul Island Station represents the northernmost outpost of New Zealand. Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting. ... The Department of Conservation (In Māori, Te Papa Atawhai), commonly known by its acronym, DOC, is the state sector organisation of New Zealand which deals with the conservation of New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage. ...

2006 eruption

On March 17, 2006 at 8:21 am NZDT, a 40-second long volcanic eruption occurred at the Green Lake. At the time, Mark Kearney, a 33-year-old DOC worker, was at the crater taking water temperature measurements. A five-hectare area around Green Lake has been affected with ash, mud and boulders. Two DOC workers were forced to turn back after going to the crater to search for Kearney. March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... On November 2, 1868, New Zealand officially adopted a standard time to be observed nationally, and was perhaps the first country to do so. ... Green Lake is the name of three lakes in New Zealand. ...

Following the eruption, DOC decided to evacuate the remaining five staff members. A Mil Mi-17 helicopter and Piper PA-31 Navaho aircraft took off from Taupo at 11 am that morning.^[1] They arrived at the island in the early afternoon and undertook a 45 minute search for Kearney but no sign was seen. The evacuated staff members were brought back to Auckland that evening. The Mil Mi-17 (Also known as the Mi-8MT, NATO reporting name Hip-H) was a Soviet cargo helicopter. ... Taupo is a large urban area in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. ...

An Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion made an overflight on 21 March to provide further information on how safe it is to approach Green Lake. Vulcanologist aboard decided the area was still unsafe, and that the crater lake had risen by about 8 metres compared to footage taken on 17 March. There was no cloud or ash plume.^[2] The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) is the air force arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. ... P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a patrol aircraft of the United States military used primarily for anti-submarine warfare. ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). ...

A group of police, the five evacuated DOC workers and scientific staff left Tauranga on 18 March for the three-day boat trip to Raoul aboard the RV Braveheart to recover his body.^[3] They were able to undertake a limited search, but decided that it was extremely unlikely that Kearney survived given the amount of devastation in the area around Green Lake. The Braveheart began the journey back to the mainland on 25 March, with three of the DOC workers staying on the island to continue research.^[4] // Introduction Tauranga (population 90,906 — 2001 census) is the major city of the western Bay of Plenty on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. ... March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). ... March 25 is the 84th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (85th in leap years). ...

Five hours after the eruption, the Aura satellite passed over and found an estimated 200 tonnes of sulfur dioxide had been released. This confirmed that there were magmatic gases in the eruption, and the presence of degassing magma within the volcano. It is now considered more likely that another eruption will occur.^[5] As of April 3 the volcanic activity in the Green Lake area had decreased, along with the frequency of earthquakes. There was an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the moment magnitude scale occurred at 1:21 am NZST on April 1, 2006 about 110 km from Raoul Island.^[6] Aura spacecraft Aura is a multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in orbit around the Earth, studying the Earths ozone, air quality and climate. ... Sulfur dioxide (or Sulphur dioxide) has the chemical formula SO2. ... Magma is molten rock often located inside a magma chamber beneath the surface of the Earth. ... April 3 is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 272 days remaining. ... The moment magnitude scale (a successor to the Richter scale), was introduced in 1979 by Tom Hanks and Hiroo Kanamori and is used by seismologists to compare the energy released by earthquakes. ... On November 2, 1868, New Zealand officially adopted a standard time to be observed nationally, and was perhaps the first country to do so. ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Geography

Two Holocene calderas are found at Raoul. The older caldera cuts the center of Raoul Island is about 2.5 x 3.5 km wide. Denham caldera, formed during a major dacitic explosive eruption about 2200 years ago, truncated the western side of the island and is 6.5 x 4 km wide. Its long axis is parallel to the tectonic fabric of the Havre Trough that lies west of the volcanic arc. Historical eruptions at Raoul during the 19th and 20th centuries have sometimes occurred simultaneously from both calderas, and have consisted of small-to-moderate phreatic eruptions, some of which formed ephemeral islands in Denham caldera. A 240 m high unnamed submarine cone, one of several located along a fissure on the lower NNE flank of Raoul volcano, has also erupted during historical time, and satellitic vents at Raoul are concentrated along two parallel NNE-trending lineaments. The Denham caldera was named for the nearby Denham Bay, itself named for Captain Denham from the H.M.S. Herald, an early explorer of the island. The Holocene epoch is a geological period that extends from the present back about 10,000 radiocarbon years. ... Crater Lake, Oregon A caldera is a volcanic feature formed by the collapse of a volcano into itself. ... ... The term phreatic is used in geology to refer to matters relating to underground water below the water table (the word originates from the Greek phrear, phreat- meaning well or spring). The phreatic zone is the layer(s) of soil or rock below the water table in which voids are...

Three small lakes, Blue Lake (1.17 km², about 40 % overgrown), Green Lake (160,000 m²) and Tui Lake (5,000 m², drinking water quality) are located in the Northern caldera of Raoul Island. The plains surrounding the lakes are called Pumice Flats. Blue Lake is the name of at least five separate lakes in New Zealand. ... Green Lake is the name of three lakes in New Zealand. ... Crater Lake, Oregon A caldera is a volcanic feature formed by the collapse of a volcano into itself. ...

Flora and fauna

Raoul is part of the Kermadec Islands subtropical moist forests ecoregion, and is largely covered with closed-canopy forest, predominantly of the evergreen tree Metrosideros kermadecensis and the islands' endemic palm, Rhopalostylis cheesemanii. The island has no native land mammals, and was formerly home to vast colonies of seabirds who nested in the forests. Polynesian visitors introduced Polynesian Rats in the 14th century, and Norway Rats, cats, and goats were introduced by European and American visitors in the 19th and 20th centuries. The rats and cats greatly reduced the seabird colonies, which mostly withdrew to offshore islets, and although the goats did not eliminate the tree canopy as they did on other islands, they greatly reduced the understory vegetation. The Kermadec Islands are an island arc in the Pacific Ocean. ... Metrosideros is a genus of tree native to the islands of the Pacific Ocean, including the Bonin Islands, Polynesia, and Melanesia. ... Species R. sapida Rhopalostylis is a genus of palms native to the South Pacific. ... Seabirds are birds that spend much of their lives, outside the breeding season at least, at sea. ... Binomial name Rattus exulans (Peale, 1848) The Polynesian Rat or Pacific Rat (Rattus exulans), known to the Maori as Kiore, is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the Brown Rat and Black Rat. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... Binomial name Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout, 1769) The Brown Rat or Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus) is one of the most well-known and common rats, and also one of the largest. ... It has been suggested that Cat breed be merged into this article or section. ... Species See Species and subspecies The goat is a mammal in the genus Capra, which consists of nine species: the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Understory (or understorey) is the term for the area of a forest which grows in the shade of the overstory or canopy. ...

Goats were removed from the island in 1984; in 2004 rats were successfully eradicated from the island. The island is part of the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve, New Zealand's largest marine reserve, which was created in 1990. It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in... Species 50 species; see text<br> <nowiki>*</nowiki>Several subfamilies of Muroids<br>include animals called rats. ... The Kermadec Islands are an island arc in the Pacific Ocean. ... New Zealand has a total of nineteen marine reserves spread around the North and South Islands, and two on outlying island groups. ... This article is about the year. ...

Satellite islands and rocks

The two largest satellite islands are North Island and South Island of Meyer Islands

• Islands and Rocks in the Northeast of Raoul Island
  • Fishing Rock
  • Egeria Rock
  • Meyer Islands
    • North Island
    • South Island
  • Napier
  • Nugent
  • Herald Islets
    • Dayrell Island
    • Chanter Islands
      • Chanter (North) Island
      • South Island
      • West Island
• Islands and Rocks in the Southwest of Raoul Island
  • Milne Islands
  • Dougall Rocks

Notes

1. ↑  “DoC evacuates as Raoul Island erupts, 'one missing'”, New Zealand Press Association, 17 March 2006.
2. ↑  “Raoul crater ruled unsafe”, The Press, 22 March 2006.
3. ↑  “Raoul five return to look for mate”, The Dominion Post, 20 March 2006.
4. ↑  “DOC searchers on Raoul Island to head home”, Radio New Zealand, 25 March 2006.
5. ↑  “Science Alert Bulletin RAO-06/03”, Geonet, 24 March 2006.
6. ↑  Magnitude 6.5 - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION, [[United States Geological Survey]

March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 22 March is the 81st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (82nd in Leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 25 is the 84th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (85th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (84th in Leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve (New Zealand Department of Conservation)
• Highly detailed map