The eruption had been “really unexpected”.
“You can measure and monitor but sometimes mother nature will do her own thing.”
Yeah, like climate. From stuff.co.nz: (h/t to reader Dr K.A. Rodgers)
Mt Tongariro has erupted, with ash fall closing roads and prompting a potential threat warning for central North Island regions.
The eruption at 11.50pm last night threw rocks and spewed ash from the Te Mari craters, near Ketetahi hot springs, on the northern side of the mountain, GNS Science said.
Civil Defence said volcanic activity could pose a threat to Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Manawatu-Whanganui, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki.
People living in those areas were advised to stay indoors with all the windows and doors closed and listen to the radio for updated emergency information and instructions.
The Desert Road section of State Highway 1, northeast of the mountain, and State Highway 46, to the north, had been closed due to the ash.
Ash had reportedly fallen as far east as Napier, police said.
The eruption had been “really unexpected”.
“You can measure and monitor but sometimes mother nature will do her own thing.”
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Great Idea Marian, I’d say it was Lucy’s kind of film!
For those who wish to know more about the other main vent on Tongariro check out these links to Ngauruhoe (pronounced Now-Roo-Hoy). I remember seeing the January ’74 and February ’75 eruptions from 130km (about 80 miles) away. Very impressive from a safe distance.
http://www.geonet.org.nz/volcano/activity/ngauruhoe/about.html
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/historic-volcanic-activity/3/1/1
The North Island lately has been getting benign-active geology where no one gets hurt. Unfortunately events in Christchurch over the past few years have reminded us of what can happen when the scale of this activity reaches towards maximum.
Cheers
Coops
What’s the Tax burden for NZ now? Are there penalties for particulates with the carbon?
Thanks to an untimely northerly wind we don’t need to visit the volcanic plateau. The smell of rotten eggs (sulphur) pervades the air around here since dinner time. I walked into the supermarket tonight and let out what has quickly become the catch-cry, “Is’at you, or is that Tongariro?” We used to blame the dog!
No sign of ash, but we didn’t get any back in ’95 & ’96 when Ruapehu did bigger things then either.
Cheers,
Coops
Dormant does not mean extinct. I suspect that this volcano, considered dormant, was not subject to monitoring so an eruption would be unexpected. Let’s hope that this eruption is short lived.
In Notes From a Small Island, Bill Bryson describes how, because of the small-scale nature of the British Isles, the English press blow up normal weather events into full-scale disasters — one of the best examples being a light to moderate snowfall, where maybe a walker would have to take higher steps than normal to get through it, becoming a snowdrift that threatens to shut down whole cities.
Well, we had the Down Under volcanic version of that on tonight’s TV news, as an on-the-spot reporter held up discarded bottles that had a thin film of ash covering them then pointed to the roadside where footsteps could be discerned, just, all the time gabbling on about potential disasters.
To indulge in a bit of hyperbole myself, this is a beat-up of galactic proportions.
And while I’m here, anyone wanting to sound like they’ve stepped straight out of a tutorial on Maori pronunciation, given by a professor of Maori Studies at Auckland University, can take Ian Cooper’s advice above and pronounce Ngauruhoe as Now-Roo-Hoy. But be warned that you’d get the same reaction as using Paree for Paris. To be understood by the vast majority of people in this fair land, I’d suggest using Narra-ho-ee, emphasis on the Narra.
John Marshall says:
August 7, 2012 at 2:40 am
Really?
http://www.geonet.org.nz/volcano/activity/tongariro/
Graphite says:
August 7, 2012 at 6:01 am
In Notes From a Small Island, Bill Bryson describes how, because of the small-scale nature of the British Isles, the English press blow up normal weather events into full-scale disasters
The British Press blow everything up!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/blow-up-sex-doll-tied-to-tree-1226346
Graphite says:
August the 7th @ur momisugly 6:01 am
Normal weather happenings are blown up here to make news or try to convince the sheeple that CAGW is causing increasingly devastating weather.
Kelvin Vaughan says:
August the 7th @ur momisugly 6:58 am
Does anyone read the Mirror? Presumably you did!
I meant to add that I drove along the Desert Road, on my own in a campervan, many years ago. I found it a decidedly spooky area but saw, heard and felt nothing of a seismic nature. On a visit to Christchurch though I did feel slight tremors while standing up on the gallery at Christchurch Cathedral. I later saw the seismograph, confirming what I’d felt. I feel so sad at what happened to Christchurch.
Now this is an eruption. Great photos
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/mount_st_helens_30_years_ago.html
Great links people . . thankyou!
Thanks ALL for the LOR information 🙂
Graphite,
I’m not sure where you live, but you need to get with the Te Reo programme or you’ll be left behind and considered a lazy dinosaur who doesn’t put the effort in. I’ve grown up with Maori people all of my life. I don’t speak Te Reo and never formally learnt the language at any stage, but atleast I try to pronounce the words as best as I can thanks to my friends some of whom are fluent speakers. It never ceases to amaze me how my forbears who came from the other side of the world insisted to the point of punishing indigenous people if they didn’t speak english properly, then promptly didn’t bother to reciprocate through either arrogance or laziness. “Narra-ho-ee,” sounds like somewhere you might find in the Aussie outback. “Now-ru hoy” (emphasis on the second syllable BTW) is something I can relate to.
Cheers
Coops
Well that certainly is weird. I have actually been skiing on Mt Ruapehu (circa 1956), while Mt Ngauruhoe next door was erupting, and spraying ash all over the Ruapehu ski slopes. Sure buggered up the soles of our skis; but I never imagined that Tongariro was also semi-active. I seem to recall that same year ,we actually went climbing on Mt Ngauruhoe while it was erupting; well hell we couldn’t ski, so might as well climb the varmint causing the ruckus.
That’s when I learned to look up during a volcanic eruption and not down; the bombs are coming down from up there, so you better watch to see when they come your way, so you can get out of the line of fire.
Well they didn’t have the Darwin awards in those days; and we were indestrucftible anyway.
“””””…..d while I’m here, anyone wanting to sound like they’ve stepped straight out of a tutorial on Maori pronunciation, given by a professor of Maori Studies at Auckland University, can take Ian Cooper’s advice above and pronounce Ngauruhoe as Now-Roo-Hoy. But be warned that you’d get the same reaction as using Paree for Paris. To be understood by the vast majority of people in this fair land, I’d suggest using Narra-ho-ee, emphasis on the Narra……”””””
Well if the Maori were still cannibals, they would certainly eat Ian Cooper first, but they would get to you soon enough; but yours certainly was a great improvement on his.
With few exceptions, every vowel in Polynesian languages is its own syllable.
The big stumbling block with Ngauruhoe, is that pesky Ng at the start of the word. A separate sound, it is duck soup when encountered mid word as in say “Tonga”, which is NOT Tong-GUH, well it is there in Tongariro as well. It is sounded exactly as in song, bong, throng.
There are NO gutteral sounds in Maori; no gees, no dees, no bees, the letters g, b, d do not exist in the Maori language the ng is a unified discrete sound, not two letters.
But for the Pakeha, it is bloody difficult to pronounce when it occurs at the start of the word, and Ngauruhoe is the final exam test. I suggest that Nah is about as close as we dunderheads can get to the real thing. But from there you do need to pronounce all of the syllable; not just three,
So I would say, Nah-oo-roo-ho-ay is a passing grade. There are some vowel pairs that are sounded together but a sfe approach is to sound most of them.
For Spanish speakers, my wife assures me, that Maori vowel sounds are absolutely identical to Spanish.
I grew up in Manurewa; which is Mah-noo-ray-wah, but being basically lazy, we called it Man-you-ree-wuh. Then of course Paraparaumu, was simp[ly Param ! Totally ugly.
If you can get the Ng at the start of a word absolutely correct, you are genius category.
Ngauruwahia, is another one to practice on.
By the way, there also is no (s) in the Maori alphabet, so plurals DO NOT have an s on the end, which is why I said the Maori would eat you, and the Maoris would probably not.
Graphite says:
August 6, 2012 at 5:51 pm
“..who’d know as much about seismic activity as Ulric Lyons knows about Down Under climate.”
I did actually make good forecasts back in 2008 for the return of rains to Australia. My main point above though was that the eruption occurred on a warm blast after a couple of months of frequently below freezing temperatures.
Hey GeoLurking,
Might show this to Erik Klemetti. I don’t know of many who claim solar activity is associated with big eruptions. Around here any association is generally a clustering may be during lack of solar activity. Maunder, Dalton, etc.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/10/30/previously-unknown-volcanic-eruption-helped-trigger-cold-decade/
@ur momisugly George E. Smith
It is Ngaruawahia, not Ngaurawahia.
Cheers
Ian H
Volcanoes are just Gaia popping her zits. 😉
Coops
I live near Mangawhai . . . the last syllable of which I pronounce as “wai” (as do the long-term locals) rather than the PC jafa’s “fy”.
I was born and raised in Takapuna, which I pronounce, in common with 99% of the population, as Takka-poona. From there I could see Rangitoto.
Now, if you apply the same thinking that renders Ngauruhoe as Now-Roo-Hoy to Takapuna and Rangitoto, you’ll end up with Tar-kar-poo-nah and Rah-nee-tor-tor — both of which will see you become a figure of mirth.
And if you try Mah-noo-reh-wah in George’s Manurewa, the most likely reply will be “Are you taking the piss?” (Unless you’re out with your academic pals, of course, in which case you’ll be congratulated for your linguistic skill.)
By the way, if your library contains the slim volume Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Place Names you’ll see that it is “compiled by Gil Dymock”. I am that compiler. In the introductory pieces there’s a section “Guide to Maori Pronunciation”. I know a bit about this stuff, including the PC drill, but prefer to live, and talk, in the real world.
Volcanoes erupt so therefore climate change has nothing to do with humans. What an elegant proof! Just like so many that appear on this site.
Edward TP says:
August 8, 2012 at 5:28 am
Not sure what you are driving at here . . . but, the Earth currently has an axial tilt of about 23.4°,[5], ‘ so therefore season change has nothing to do with humans!’ ”What an elegant proof! Just like so many that appear on this site.”
What we do as humans is adapt to season changes, not assert that we may affect/effect them!
Meant to add that all dreaded . . .wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_tilt#Obliquity_of_the_ecliptic_.28Earth.27s_axial_tilt.29
“””””…..Ian H says:
August 7, 2012 at 8:47 pm
@ur momisugly George E. Smith
It is Ngaruawahia, not Ngaurawahia.
Cheers
Ian ……”””””
OOoops ! Ian I have this manual dylsexia, where my fingers get ahead of themselves, so “the” tends to come out “teh”.
Thanks for catching that for me.
And as I am sure Graphite realizes, when you try to spell out phonetic things in a completely different langwidge, the hyphens are not to be taken as pauses, simply indicate syllabylization.
While I certainly sed Takka-poona when I was a kid, I don’t think it is any great imposition to use a more correct vowel sound, so Ta,ka,poo.nah would do it for me. Graphite did get my interest with Rangitoto, because it does bring out a couple of points. First off the ng would of course be incomplete without a vowel as in nga or ngi in this case, Rangi would be two syllables as Graphite tells us, but I think he demonstrates that nee is NOT an acceptible sound for the ngi, and makes the point that the correct sound is damn difficult for Anglos, but not if you think of song or long, which doesn’t turn the ng into any GEE sound. But I confess that I had not seen Ra-ngi as two syllables which it really is, and I’m sure my to-to as in toe-toe is not accurate.
The tor-tor, threw me for a while then I realized I HAD heard native Maori speakers, sound it that way. Is taw-taw different or are they the same ?
Hey any place you can see Rangitoto from is a good place, even if we can’t say it correctly.
I do prefer the Maori (language) to the Havaiian; much more musical to my ear.
A fairly well known fiction book about NZ early colonial days (very early) has a character by the name of Purdy, who ends up living with a Maori tribe, and the author goofed up and had the Maori turn his name into “Paradi”, which won’t fly because of the “d”. I actually considered writing to the author, and suggesting that in a second edition, he change his name to Parati, which is about what would more likely have happened.
There were some other research errors in the book; I seem to recall, that one had something to do with the native green pigeon, but I don’t remember exactly what, and then they had him logging Kauri trees, a good deal south of where Kauri ever grew. But it is a fun read; can’t remeber the name.
Wonderful news! Global warming advocates seek an explanation for static temperatures in this century, and now they have a logical explanation! Let’s buy carbon credits and amass great wealth.