Which Vanuatu island is home to the active Mount Yasur volcano?

Tanna Island is the Vanuatu island home to the active Mount Yasur volcano. The island lies in Tafea Province in southern Vanuatu and is famous for the volcano’s frequent fiery explosions and glowing crater.

Mount Yasur rises about 361 metres above sea level on Tanna’s southeast coast near Sulphur Bay. It is a stratovolcano formed by subduction, where the Indo-Australian Plate moves beneath the Pacific Plate. Its eruptions are commonly described as Strombolian or Vulcanian and may occur several times an hour.

Tanna is sometimes confused with Efate, Vanuatu’s main tourism and administrative island, or Espiritu Santo, the country’s largest island. Neither is home to Mount Yasur. Tanna itself is about 40 kilometres long and 19 kilometres wide, with Mount Tukosmera as its highest point.

The volcano is also culturally significant. Tanna is associated with the John Frum movement, whose followers regard Mount Yasur and the Sulphur Bay area as sacred. The mountain’s glow reportedly attracted James Cook’s attention in 1774.