Tavurvur

Tavurvur
Tavurvur erupting
Highest point
Elevation
Coordinates
Geography
Tavurvur East New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Geology
Mountain type	Stratovolcano, vent of Rabaul caldera
Last eruption	August to September 2014

Tavurvur is an active stratovolcano that lies near Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, in Papua New Guinea. It is a sub-vent of the Rabaul caldera and lies on the eastern rim of the larger feature. An eruption of the volcano largely destroyed the nearby town of Rabaul in 1994.

Mount Tavurvur is the most active volcano in Rabaul caldera, and erupted most recently on Friday, 12 September 2014.

History

In 1937, Tavurvur and another nearby volcano, Vulcan, erupted, killing 508 people.

On 7 October 2006 the volcano erupted again, and an initial blast shattered windows up to 12 kilometers away and sent an ash plume 18 km into the stratosphere. Winds blew most of the ash away from Rabaul.

The latest eruption began on 29 August 2014, around 3:30–4:00 AM local time (28 August 2014, 17:30–18:00 UTC) prompting concerns over disruption of flights in Australian airspace due to the large ash clouds (up to 50,000 feet, or 15 km). Communities near the volcano were evacuated, while residents of the town of Rabaul were advised to remain indoors to avoid falling ash, according to a statement from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The VEI of this eruption was 3^4.

Gallery

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  Space Radar Image of Rabaul Volcano

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  Tavurvur from Low Earth orbit

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  Tavurvur's 2009 eruption

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External links

• Volcano World: Tavurvur, Rabaul Caldera
• Volcano Eruption in Papua New Guinea on YouTube, the August 29th, 2014 eruption of Tavurvur captured by Phil McNamara.