El Hierro Submarine Volcano Eruption

Four months after it began, the underwater volcanic eruption off El Hierro Island persists. This natural-color satellite image, collected on February 10, 2012, shows the site of the eruption, near the fishing village of La Restinga. Bright aquamarine water indicates high concentrations of volcanic material. Immediately above the vent is a patch of brown water that can resemble a turbulent hot tub when the eruption is strongest. The video of the eruption shows the activity in more detail.

This image was acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. The eruption is just off the southern coast of El Hierro, the youngest of the Canary Islands. El Hierro is about 460 kilometers (290 miles) west of the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara.

According to El Hierro Digital measurements of the sea floor by the Instituto Oceanográfico Español showed that the volcano’s summit is now only 120 meters (390 feet) beneath the ocean surface—10 meters (30 feet) higher than it was in mid January. The height of the erupting cone is about 210 meters (690 feet) from the former ocean bottom, with a total volume over 145 million cubic meters (512 million cubic feet) of new material.

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References

1. El Hierro Digital. (2012, February 14). El IEO ha establecido la profundidad de la cima del cono principal de la erupción submarina en 120 metros Accessed February 14, 2012.
2. Instituto Oceanográfico Español. (2012, January 20). El cono volcánico de El Hierro se encuentra a unos 130 metros de profundidad. Accessed February 14, 2012.

NASA image by Robert Simmon, using ALI data from the EO-1 Team

A new island is forming in the Red Sea. About 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the coast of Yemen, an undersea eruption began in mid-December 2011. Local fishermen reported an eruption near the island of Saba, while satellites captured a white plume rising from the sea, and a pulse of sulfor dioxide. The activity was located on the northern edge of the Zubair Islands. On December 23, high-resolution satellite imagery revealed details of the eruption. More recent video from a Yemeni Navy helicopter showed violent explosions, typical of shallow submarine eruptions.

This new satellite image, acquired January 7, 2012, suggests that the eruption has risen nearly completely above water. A plume of steam, other volcanic gases, and ash spews from a distinct cone. The land surrounding the vent has grown, and is now about 530 by 710 meters (1,700 by 2,300 feet) across. Once above water, past eruptions in the Zubair Islands were primarily effusive, with relatively runny lava forming thin lava flows. In contrast to the fragmented rock that forms when lava interacts directly with water, lava that solidifies on land is tough, so this new island is likely to stick around.

This natural-color image was acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite.

A merchant ship passes by Haycock Island in the southern Red Sea, image (c) Robert Almeida Photography

Ragged Island, a volcanic island in the Zubair Island chain in the southern Red Sea, image (c) Robert Almeida Photography

The video below was taken from the ROV Jason in May.

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Read more about this discovery at NOAA.org.

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According to an AFP report in March 2009:

The volcano, on the small, uninhabited islet of Hunga Ha’apai 63 kilometres (39 miles) northwest of the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa, began erupting Monday, several days after a moderate earthquake.

It continued to spew Friday even as a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 rocked Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu.

The volcano is hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre of the earthquake, which caused no significant damage but sparked a regional tsunami warning.

Radio journalist George Lavaka, who visited the island with a sightseeing group Thursday, said the explosions were accompanied by a deep rumbling.

“The island itself is totally destroyed,” Lavaka said, “there is no living thing left there, it’s all covered in black ash.

In fact, the eruptions this week have been so massive that they have formed a new island and even a Pumice Raft has been spotted floating near the eruption, according to Times Online.  A pumice raft is a large quantity of pumice fragments floating on the ocean surface (pumice is a volcanic rock that contains so many gas vesicles that it floats) and is a very rare occurrence.

Boston.com has a great collection of photos HERE

Tonga on a map…

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