Member Country Report of Papua New Guinea - CCOP

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6.2. Volcanic Hazards6.2.1. Annual Review of Individual Technical ActivitiesNo new activities were started and no activities were completed during the reportingperiod. The annual review covers only the ongoing activities undertaken for the period 2008 -2009 by the Rabaul Volcanological Observatory Branch.Volcanic ActivitiesThe monitored volcanoes of Papua New Guinea were generally quiet in 2008, withthe exception of the Tavurvur volcano.Ulawun and the Manam volcanoes remained generally quiet throughout 2008.Ulawun changed its quiet status of activity with the commencement and continuation of highfrequency volcano-tectonic earthquakes from about March onwards and Manam showedsome signs of renewed activity from occasional night glows from the two summit cratersduring the last few months of the year.Figure 1. Ulawun volcano taken from the southeast side of the volcano.Note the moderate volumes of white vapour emitted from the summit crater.Bagana, considered as the most active volcano in Papua New Guinea due to its subcontinuouseffusive activity, continued to erupt effusively in 2009. The effusive emissions oflava from the summit crater rolled down the western flanks of the volcano. The volume oflava was too insignificant to cause any alarm.Tavurvur, one of the two volcanoes that erupted at Rabaul in September 1994, eruptedthroughout 2008. The level of eruption was relatively mild during the first half of the year,but this changed during the second half when the mode of eruption changed from sporadicash emissions occurring at long intervals to almost sub-continuous emissions. Between Julyand October/November southeast winds blew the ash-rich plumes towards Rabaul Town andthe surrounding areas and deposited significant volumes of ash and affected the everydaylivelihood of people and gave rise to the emergence of health-related issues. The ash depositsturned into mudflows as soon as rain began to fall in October and severely affected the entiretown of Rabaul and the surrounding areas.The eruption also affected the domestic aviation industry when ash-rich plumesfrequented the air space of the flight path and deposited considerable amounts of ash on therunway. A flight service to the only main airport that serves East New Britain Province wasdisrupted, severely affecting the traveling public.8 CCOP Member Country Report: PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Monitoring ActivitiesRVO persevered to maintain its monitoring equipment at Rabaul and the selectedhigh-risk volcanoes including Ulawun, Manam, Lamington and Pago.The seismic monitoring network at Rabaul was maintained at a reasonable level. Acouple of stations which had been off from the start of 2008 were restored. The tide gaugenetwork consisting of three stations was partially restored after a long period of inactivity. Anupgrade of the real-time Global Positioning System (GPS) of four stations for deformationmeasurements began during the last quarter of the year. By the end of the year three of thestations were restored but two continued to have problems. The work continued in 2009.Figure 2. VIS monitoring station. The station has seismic, GPS and electronic tilt equipment.The tall mast in the centre is holding the GPS wifi antenna for transmitting GPS data to SPT repeaterstation. The two yagi antennas are for the seismic (long antenna) and electronic tilt (short) data.The monitoring stations at Ulawun, Pago, Garbuna, Manam and Lamington,consisting of single seismic stations operated below satisfactory levels, mainly due totechnical problems associated with power problems, lack of parts etc. At some places likeUlawun, local recordings are done on site but data transmission to RVO could not occur dueto faults in some of the system components. Despite these shortfalls, daily reporting ofvolcanic information by the volcano observers, which also included Bagana, using HF voiceradios are maintained at a satisfactory level.Special Projects/ProgramsDiscussions and the compilation of a document commenced on a proposed new 4-yearAusAID-funded Geoscience Australia-RVO Twining Program following the cessation of asimilar existing program in mid-2009.RVO participated in a series of consultative review meetings on AusAID’s‘Framework for Australian Assistance to Disaster Management in Papua New Guinea 2003-2008’ to determine its strengths, weaknesses, impacts and lessons learned, in anticipation fordrawing up a new program, the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Program.An air quality study for Rabaul town was conducted in 2008 (World HealthOrganisation) to study and determine the health related effects of volcanic ash and gasreleased by the ongoing Tavurvur on the population of Rabaul Town. A report stating theresults of the study was produced and distributed through the PNG WHO Office in PortMoresby. In a nut shell, the study found that the volcanic ash was not particularly poisonoushowever it has the potential to affect the respiratory system of people from prolongedexposure. Volcanic gas, and especially sulphur dioxide, was present and its effect on peopleCCOP Member Country Report: PAPUA NEW GUINEA 9
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Member Country Report of Papua New Guinea - CCOP

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