Volcano Erupts off Tonga's coast

[Hud3]

I've sailed near the volcano on Montserrat several times, and have ended up with a coat of fine dust on the boat. And we experience it here at our home on Nevis from time to time, depending on the wind direction. The volcanic dust is irritating to the eyes, throat and lungs, but according to what I've read, not hazardous from a health standpoint at typical exposure levels. The stuff is a nuisance, mostly. If it gets wet, it kind of sets up, like cement, and it's acidic as well. Hard on paint. Montserrat's Soufriere Hills volcano can easily put out 500 tonn of sulfur dioxide in a 24 hour period. You can smell it when sailing downwind of the island (won't do that again!). I don't imagine CO2 is a significant part of it's emissions, if at all.

[Celestialsailor]

From our Volcano...We get an out gassing of Sulfur dioxide. We call it VOG (Volcano out gassing). It is irritating to the eyes and throat. We have had a lot of recent Volcano activity. It puts a haze in the air to where it almost looks like light fog. The radio media here calls it haze rather than what it is, so tourism is not effected.