Global temperatures are getting warmer.
Glaciers are melting.
Sea levels are rising.
Scientists agree that increasing carbon dioxide
emissions in the atmosphere are changing our climate.
For some, where those gases are coming from
is still a matter of debate.
Planes, cars, and industry are commonly accepted
as the main culprits.
But volcanic eruptions are also known to throw huge amounts
of gas into the atmosphere.
I'm making it my mission to climb into one
of the world's most active volcanoes.
To find out if those gases are contributing to climate change.
It blows me away every time I see this many cars.
And this is just one highway in one city.
How much carbon dioxide are we putting into the atmosphere?
But it's not just us.
There are other more natural sources of greenhouse gas as well.
Things such as melting permafrost and cow farts,
believe it or not.
Some people even say that the volcanoes of the world
are creating more greenhouse gas than all
of the human activity combined.
How do you respond to people who are--
I don't even use the word skeptic.
Because skeptic is not the right word.
The deniers of the deniers who are claiming
volcanoes contribute more greenhouse gases than all
of the industrialized countries put together.
What we're dealing here with is a deeply held belief system.
Something that could have elements of political persuasion.
They're usually sort of predisposed
to believe anything that means you don't have to do anything,
don't have to take action.
So if it's just volcanoes, well, there's nothing
we can do about that.
So that's fine just that the volcanoes go off
and nature will take care of itself.
At any given time, there are 50 to 60 active volcanoes
around the world.
Eruptions expel huge amounts of gas into the atmosphere,
which some believe is leading to climate change.
I don't know if I buy that, but it's something
I really need to check out.
And I know just the place.
My curiosity brings me to the nation of Vanuatu.
It's a small archipelago of about 80 islands
in the South Pacific Ocean.
I've landed in the capital of Port Vila,
but my final destination is the neighboring island of Ambrum,
the home of one of the world's most active volcanoes.
The weather there is notoriously awful.
There's volcanic gas.
There's acid rain.
And of course, the threat is always there
for a larger eruption.
So it's not the most hospitable place on Earth.
I know this area of the world well.
I even got married in 2006 on the lip
of an exploding volcano in Vanuatu.
That's where we're getting married right at the top of the yasser.
And it's real active today.
Now I'm going to an even more active and more remote volcano
on the island of Ambrum.
I'm getting some help on this expedition.
Sarah, nice to meet you.
Welcome to Vanuatu.
Sarah Hofferitz is an accomplished young geologist
from Denmark.
She has the equipment to help us determine
how much dangerous gas the volcano is emitting
and if it's contributing to climate change.
Frequent eruptions on Ambrum create weather conditions
that make flying to the island a challenge.
It looks like we've lucked out with a clear day.
The trick is, is it going to be clear on Ambrum?
Typically, the place is shrouded in cloud a lot of the time.
So I've got my fingers crossed, I'm very hopeful.
So far, so good.
I'm very interested in seeing how nature is behaving
in the setting.
Kind of cool.
There are two active volcanic cones on this island.
Mount Benbo and Mount Marum.
Over the past decade, there's been an increase
in emissions of volcanic gases from both of them.
In 2009, approximately 15,000 tons of sulfur dioxide
was emitted into the atmosphere in one day.
Despite the danger of these frequent eruptions,
almost 9,000 people live on the island of Ambrum.
To them, the volcano is a part of life.
Before we head to the summit, Sarah and I
want to gauge the effect the volcano
is having on the local village of Indus.
Is this your drinking water?
Yeah, this water has a source right up on the mountain.
And is it from a well?
No, or spring, spring water.
Spring water, yeah.
During major explosive eruptions,
huge amounts of volcanic gas, including sulfur dioxide,
get ejected into the atmosphere.
Large clouds complete the air downwind of the volcano.
And when mixed with moisture, can lead to acid rain.
This contamination has harmful effects
on water supplies for people, plants, and animals.
Sarah came equipped to determine if this community is at risk.
Today, we're testing the drinking water.
What do we have here?
This is a conductivity meter.
And that will tell me how many ions in the water.
270.
Yeah, 270 microcemons.
So that means there are definitely some ions in the water.
Very likely some sulfur and some of the fluorine.
Push itself, rather high.
To put it into perspective, pure drinking water
typically contains less than five microcemons
of concentrated minerals.
This town's water is over 50 times that amount.
Drinking contaminated water can damage teeth and bones.
A recent government of Vanuatu Report
predicts a dire future for the island.
Its future eruptions and resulting contamination
from acid rain is almost certain.
The brooding outline of the volcano
is nearly always shrouded in gas and cloud.
When we have a volcano that's active like Abramus,
I want to see how much sulfur dioxide
and how much carbon dioxide is being emitted at the volcano.
We know volcanic eruptions emit carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere.
But enough to cause climate change, it's time to find out.
Awesome.
For the next five days, we'll be eating, sleeping,
and working at the summit of this active volcano.
This is about as far away from civilization as it gets.
Well, welcome to Maru.
Yeah, that's your name.
That's your name.
That's your name.
The summit of a volcano is one of the most dangerous places
on Earth.
The air is heavy with a mixture of gases,
and when inhaled, it can be deadly.
The conditions up here are so bad,
I'd say the only place you'd find them is on another planet.
Our guide is Jeff Macley, nicknamed Danger Man.
He was the first person to explore the depths
of this volcano.
The camp looks like it's taken a beating.
Hey, um, George.
Yes.
Uh, this is your tent.
[laughs]
Oh, that's unbelievable.
When you've got hurricane force winds,
uh, mixed with very sharp gravel and high strength
sulfuric acid, it's like somebody firing
a fire hose full of gravel and sulfuric acid at you,
and that can go on for a week.
The condition of this tent is a testament
to what the weather can really be like up here.
Extremely high winds, sand blasting
with all this volcanic ash and gravel,
and of course, the acid in the atmosphere
has weakened this material down to nothing.
It may be dangerous at the summit,
but tomorrow, we'll climb down into the belly of the beast.
You can feel the heat all the way from up here.
Today, violent.
Boiling pools of lava and seemingly endless plumes of gas
await us at the bottom of the crater.
But I need to get closer to the volcano
to find out more about the gases it's emitting.
And that's where the real danger is.
Ow!
Very few volcanoes are capable of producing
the amount of gas that Amber can.
There are several vents here that
are all vigorously degassing hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide,
carbon dioxide, hydrogen fluoride.
Are these dangerous gases contributing
to our warming planet?
Sarah has the latest technology to measure just that.
She's using a fly spec to measure the sulfur dioxide levels
in the air at Amber.
So now it's scanning through the plume.
Going from over here and scanning way through.
This data will reflect the amount of toxic SO2 at the summit
and help us understand if and how this
contributes to climate change.
But to get more data, we'll have to go straight to the source.
Sarah is getting her chance to go into the volcano.
So this is going to be really, really fun.
But today, visibility is poor.
And I'm hoping it doesn't get any worse.
Ah, it is.
The entire crater right now is completely filled with gas.
But let's try and see if it clears up.
Yeah.
All right.
Are you good to go?
It feels so.
For even the most experienced climber,
this descent is a challenge.
Nice, steady, crazy.
Brad, our guide, will be leading us down the tricky descent.
And I'll be following behind Sarah.
With almost a straight drop of 1,200 feet to the bottom,
a lot could go wrong.
To get down to the bottom, it's so deep
that the ropes just are not going to be long enough.
So we have to do a multi-stage repel in three different steps.
Can you imagine all this used to be covered by rock?
And then it had this big explosion.
And now we're just in the hole of it.
Now that Sarah has safely reached the 100-yard ledge,
I can start my descent.
This is insane.
It's a cuter.
Yeah, everything around here is trying
to kill me about apart from that.
That's great.
The weather is closing in, making it hard to see
where we're climbing.
I'm not feeling very confident about this.
Brad calls off the climb.
It's too dangerous.
The visibility has gotten so poor that we'd
be doing the descent virtually blind.
Our visit to the crater will have to wait.
Maybe next time.
This ability has dropped down tremendously,
which is never a good thing around here.
And I'm starting to feel some drizzle coming in,
which usually leads to torrential rains and storms.
You can hear the roar of the wind
and the gravel being brought towards you,
and then your tent just violently shakes.
Now, just keep the battering and battering and battering
your tent until, you know, look by bit.
There might be something that comes loose.
[helicopter whirring]
An unexpected storm has delayed our mission.
We'll get to shield that corner up, too, or we'll lose that.
We've done everything we can to secure our tents.
Now, we just need to hunker down and ride
out this ferocious storm.
[music playing]
It was a tough night, but by the morning, it's over.
Now, we have to get back to work, which
means getting to the bottom of the crater,
poor visibility or not.
Sarah isn't joining me on my descent today,
as last night's storm took away her valuable research time.
The goal is to get all the way to the bottom, 1,200 feet,
gather some rock samples for Sarah,
and get some thermal imagery of the lava lake itself.
Big day today.
Rock and roll.
[music playing]
[laughing]
It's ridiculous.
It's the sound of the lava lake below.
It's wild.
I've described it to people as sounding
like the devil's washing mission.
And you don't want to end up in that spins like--
[music playing]
The biggest danger is rock fall.
If you knock a rope, rock comes down,
hits your buddy in the head.
[music playing]
You're dead meat.
The trick is slow and steady, nice and safe,
because anything and everything can go wrong here.
At the summit, Sarah is measuring how much carbon dioxide
is being emitted from the soil.
As long as a volcano is active, it's emitting gases.
The carbon dioxide migrates through cracks
to the soil on the side of the volcano.
The levels of CO2 found will help Sarah and her analysis
of whether volcanoes are leading the climate change.
[music playing]
3,000?
4,000?
5,000?
I'm getting really high values.
I want to see how it compares to measurements
up on the crater side and getting closer and closer
to the kelteria rim.
It takes me two grueling hours to make it down
to the bottom of the crater.
Top side, I am free of the rope.
OK, we're going to get our first look at this thing up close.
Wow.
This is liquid rock.
The heat is just unbelievable right now.
It's burning the back of my neck.
Lava lakes are a rare phenomenon.
Formed when molten lava becomes trapped in a volcanic crater.
First thing's first, I'm going to get some thermal images.
Examining thermal images helps us understand more
about the volcano and its activity.
Unless you've actually experienced lava firsthand,
it's hard to comprehend.
Just how hot it is.
Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
The average oven reaches 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
8, 1,200 Fahrenheit.
This is a whole other level of heat.
1,400, 1,600, 1,697.
Holy cow.
I've got to be careful.
I'm definitely within the splash zone.
Even the smallest piece of flying lava
could burn through my clothes and skin.
Hot.
Burning.
All this ejecta coming out of the lava lake are very fresh.
So that should be perfect for what Sarah needs.
I've just got to grab a couple of fresh samples
and watch my back at the same time.
[music playing]
It's really scary turning your back on this thing.
[music playing]
This really fine stuff is Pele's hair.
When the bubbles on the lava lake burst,
they form these tiny little hairs,
and they'll drift all the way up the camp.
I can get a little bit closer, but I'm
going to have to put on my special heat suit.
It's a good thing I came prepared.
This suit can withstand temperatures up to 3,000 degrees.
I think I'm ready.
If you want to get a really good view,
you have to be protected, otherwise the radiant heat.
It's just too much.
Wow.
That is about as crazy as it gets.
My big concern right now is watching
for pieces of lava splashing up.
Wow.
Here's some big pieces coming, big pieces coming.
I can't leave before collecting some samples for Sarah.
Oh, here we go.
Here's a really fresh piece, still glowing hot.
Oh, ah, ah.
Even with the gloves.
Today was a success.
Got up close, got some really good samples.
Some good thermal data.
The newly formed lava samples will give us
the most accurate results about their chemical makeup
and indicate the quantity and types of gases being emitted.
This will help Sarah determine if volcanoes are
contributing to climate change.
It's just-- really, it's not like anywhere else.
This pit, expect the devil himself to come jumping out of it.
I got some goodies for you.
These are the ones that were fresh out of the volcano.
They were so hot.
So this is the newest rock on Earth.
You want it fresh?
I got you fresh.
We've now collected data from the summit
and straight from the lava lake in the crater.
If this volcano is having any effect on climate change,
we'll have the numbers to prove it.
We've spent the last few days on this volcano gathering data
to help investigate the claim that volcanoes
contribute to climate change.
Now, it's the moment of truth.
What you got?
I'm looking at some of the data, and I've summed it up.
First, Sarah analyzes the carbon dioxide readings
she took from the soil surrounding the volcano.
How much gas is it emitting?
The carbon dioxide is up around 21,000 tons a day.
21,000 tons of day, just from here.
Yes, from the average.
Next, Sarah adds up the sulfur dioxide emissions
she took at the summit to see how much amberam is releasing.
The volcano here is emitting around 7,800 tons a day.
It's a lot of sulfur dioxide.
But to get a clear answer, Sarah needs
to add the sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide results
to the data that's being collected from other volcanoes
around the world.
Total volcanic budget, global.
That's 0.26 gigatens a year.
So it's quite a lot.
But most importantly, how does that
compare to human activity?
Human activity is 35 gigatens a year.
35 gigatens.
Yes.
Versus 0.2 for all volcanoes combined.
Yes.
So do volcanoes contribute to global warming?
I think we're going to say no.
No, no, it doesn't.
We have the numbers to prove it.
Yes.
In fact, according to data collected by scientists
around the world, the sulfur dioxide gas
being released here can actually help the planet.
The gas forms tiny droplets of sulfuric acid,
also known as volcanic aerosols, which block sunlight.
And that causes the climate to cool.
After large eruptions like Mount Pinatubo,
Mount St. Helens, detectable drops in temperature
were found around the world due to sulfur dioxide
and other aerosols in the atmosphere from these eruptions.
Even with all this unimaginable heat, power, and gas
that comes out of not just this volcano,
but all the world's volcanoes.
The amount of greenhouse gas that comes out of them
only amounts to about 1% of the total greenhouse gas
emissions into the atmosphere.
Whoo, the rest comes from us.
Volcanoes are not to blame.
We have volcanoes to thank.
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