Environmental Impact

The impacts of the VUW contribution to the IMESS and IMEEMS programs have gone with the exception of the degradation of the ice caves described by Giggenbacb (1975). By enlarging the opening to install seismographs in 1974, I altered the air/steam balance, and thus the conditions required to maintain the ice tower around the opening. Considerable natural ablation of the small glacier above the upper hut has contributed to this. The summit area has been tidied by the removal of NSF wire and batteries abandoned after the 19S4 eruptions.