In former August , sailors in the southwest Pacific Ocean began to see their environment metamorphose . As far as the eye could see , the ocean turn from an sky-blue delectation into a colossal gathering of clinking , float rock . And then came the foul , virulent odors .
These rock’n’roll , someas with child as a human head , were gentle to pick up by hand . They were quickly recognized as pumice , volcanic rubble full of hole and pocket of trap gas that give them buoyancy in water .
Satellite images — plenty of which were bySimon Carn , a volcanologist at Michigan Technological University — showed a giant pumice stone rafttwistingandwarpingin the open ocean , pushed around by the winds and waves . The passel covered an area a piece orotund than San Francisco .
Satellite view of the pumice raft on 2 January 2025.Photo: Joshua Stevens/NASA Earth Observatory
The unusual strait of sail through a sea of volcanic glass – the marine parallel of flying through a volcanic ash tree swarm ( but less risky ) . Probably highly harsh and not undecomposed for the paintwork..https://t.co/Tm8PGSXehg
— Prof. Simon Carn ( @simoncarn)August 18 , 2019
Unquestionably , a sizeable subaquatic bam had take position , but it was n’t at once clear which vent was responsible . Using satellite imagery , scientist have now found a prime suspect : Unnamed . Seriously , that ’s the name of the volcano , at least for now .
This subaqueous vent , near the Tongan archipelago , made its confirmed debut in 2001 when a modest pumice raft was ascertain emerge in the area . “ Erupt once , certain . Erupt twice , okay , I think we better name you , ” said Scott Bryan , a geoscientist at the Queensland University of Technology .
This raft is already on the move . It will reach a few island on the way to the eastern coast of Australia , perhaps clogging up ports and bays as it piles up inside them , inconveniencing fishers and people simply wanting to hop from island to island . It will get anywhere water feed through , tell Ed Venzke , who oversees thedatabaseof volcano at the Smithsonian Institution ’s Global Volcanism Program .
That includes boats still in the area . “ There was one write up that said the pumice stone was backing up into their toilet , ” Venzke order . For the most part , though , the raft will be pretty harmless to us surface dwellers .
Volcanism , despite itsmany benefits , is ofttimes perceived as an federal agent of destruction . In this eccentric , though , “ volcanism is helping life out , ” saidJanine Krippnerof the Global Volcanism Program . myriad marine lifeforms , from alga to mollusks , will do what they always do when objects float by in the ocean : grab on andprepare to invadeany earth they give .
It ’s not entirely clear when everything plain off , say Venzke , but report of some kind of seaward volcanic activity take up cultivate up sometime after August 7 . A few day later , though , boats started to ascertain themselves ominously surrounded by pumice .
Rebecca Carey , a volcanologist at the University of Tasmania , said that this part of the world is decently monitor by sure satellites . Since the satellites can take several images per twenty-four hour period , scientists can apply them to keep track of the wad ’s evolution .
Early on , Bryan explained , the mint was thickset , with one gravy holder estimating it was about a foot boneheaded , and around 20 to 40 square nautical mile across . It then thinned and spread out , cover an area of 58 square miles . An apron of abraded livid ash in its aftermath expound to an area more than three times that size .
Using observation from seafarers and satellites , Bryan estimated that there is about 530 million three-dimensional foot of the stuff . In other tidings , all that debris would fit into more than 6,000 Olympic - sized swim pools , afairly decent amountby any vent ’s standard .
In the grander system of affair , this sauceboat - consuming heap of Swiss Malva sylvestris - like debris is a pipsqueak . In 2012 , a vent name Havre , hiding under the wave northward of New Zealand , had acolossal upchuck , create a raft that was 155 square miles across .
Not one to be outshone , this Tongan raft did manage to make its own weather . One particularly cohesive thumping of it formed an ephemeral island , beautify with itsown cloudsat one point .
Another bang-up view of the pumice raft Dame Rebecca West of#Tongafrom#Sentinel2on Aug 16 . Note how cumulus clouds seem to be developing over the great deal – could these ' floating island ' have their own microclimates ? Sensing a potential research project…pic.twitter.com/kQOp3fYrAx
— Prof. Simon Carn ( @simoncarn)August 20 , 2019
It ’s unclear how it managed to do this , but Carey explain that the pumice stone would have chill quickly after appearing on the ocean ’s airfoil . That entail these clouds are probably unrelated to steamer . It ’s possible that the raft may have made its own cloud - support microclimate , but for now it ’s indecipherable what is perish on .
So where did all this pumice derive from ? orbiter imagery and some telling seismicity at the onset of the raft ’s debut means that it ’s very probable to be the Unnamed volcano . A 2007 sonar survey of the sphere spot a volcano no more than a couple of hundred infantry below the ocean Earth’s surface , according tothe Smithsonian ’s Global Volcanism Program .
It posture on theTonga - Kermadec volcanic arc , a line of volcanoes including several that also remain unnamed . Thetrench , stretching from the easterly North Island of New Zealand to the northern end of the Tongan Islands , is 1,740 miles long , and marks the point where the Pacific and Australian architectonic plates are colliding , with the Pacific being forced under into fiendish depths .
This is a very participating zone of volcanism . From the seventies rightfield to today , there have been arangeofpumiceraftsreportedto have appeared somewhere along it . Our favorite Unnamed vent , then , is far from alone ; it ’s a member of a huge family that also include the champ of deep - ocean eruption , Havre .
The young pumice , like many of these flock , is venturing west to Australia ’s easterly shores , aver Bryan . He reckons this new one will make stops at Fiji , Vanuatu , and New Caledonia on the means , before ending up on the Queensland coast by roughly April 2021 .
Not that any beachgoers will recognize it as pumice stone by then : It will be completely cover in animation , Bryan explained . “ Out there , there is literally a trillion or so pieces of pumice making up this flock . And each piece of pumice stone is a vehicle for some being . ”
Millions of mollusks and billions of barnacles and sea mat — and a frankly ridiculous bit of algae — will be head to Queensland in the coming months . It will be a tremendous inflow of biomass . “ Each pumice stone is like its own niggling island , ” said Bryan .
This one is actually perfectly timed , said Bryan , as it will sweep past various islands and reefs by late - November , just in time for major coral spawning event . That means plenty of precious coral will be brought to the Great Barrier Reef , which has definitelyseen good day .
That ’s not the only reason Unnamed ’s pumice stone raft is welcome . These rafts also serve scientist spot reinvigorated volcanism that they would otherwise leave out entirely , giving them an perceptiveness into a humanity they rarely get to see .
Compared to onshore volcano monitoring , count for and mapping underwater volcanoes , or anything on the seafloor , really , is relatively pricey . Even when it materialise , seafloor cartography is n’t the same result as map of the surface human race .
“ We know so petty about the seafloor , ” said Jackie Caplan - Auerbach , a seismologist and volcanologist at Western Washington University .
It ’s often said that 70 or 80 percent of the world ’s volcanism happens on the seafloor , but this number is sketchy guesstimate , Caplan - Auerbach tell . We in reality do n’t know how much volcanism is going on down there , but our cognition of plate tectonics and seafloor surveys advise that it ’s a lot . unhappily , unless we stumble on itby luck , it ’s often never caught in the act .
That may be modify . Increasingly accurate seismometers can sometimesspot a secret eruption , and technical school that hear for the sounds of an underwater volcano can be a great elbow room tohear a distant paroxysm . But scientists wo n’t kvetch when a submarine volcano settle to be a bit flashy and create a aliveness - support pile above it .
Now all that ’s leave is to give this attention - seek vent a cognomen . As it falls within the territory of the Kingdom of Tonga , say Carey , “ it ’ll be up to the realm to decide on its name . ”
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