undersea volcano erupts off Tonga

[tropicana]

UNDERSEA VOLCANO ERUPTS OFF TONGA
Wed March 18 2009

An undersea volcano erupted off the coast of Tonga shooting clouds of smoke, steam and ash thousands of metres into the sky above the South Pacific ocean, officials say.
Spectacular columns spewed out of the sea about 10km from the southwest coast off the main island of Tongatapu - an area where up to 36 undersea volcanoes are clustered, said Tonga's geological service head, Keleti Mafi.It's a very significant eruption, on quite a large scale.

There was no sign the offshore eruption posed any danger to residents, with trade winds blowing gas and steam away from the island.
Residents said the steam and ash column first appeared on Monday morning, after a series of sharp earthquakes were felt in the capital, Nuku'alofa. This is not unusual for this area and we expect this to happen here at any time with a similar eruption taking place here in 2002.

A Defence Force boat was expected to travel to the region soon to check the area.
It was likely the underwater eruption was taking place to the west of the low-lying twin volcanic islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai, within sight of Nuku'alofa.
Large amounts of pumice thrown up by the erupting volcano would likely clog beaches on the southern coast of nearby Fiji islands within a short time.

Tonga, a 170-island archipelago about halfway between Australia and Tahiti, is part of the Pacific "ring of fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from Chile in South America through Alaska and down through Vanuatu to Tonga.

[JonathanBelles]

Thats interesting. Kind of like having the ocean exploding or something lol.

[HURAKAN]

I would love to see pictures of this event.

[HURAKAN]

http://volcanism.wordpress.com/2009/03/ ... -eruption/

[lurkey]

Video here

[tropicana]

i know there is another thread on this, but this is related to this story:-
Fri Mar 20 2009
NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga – A strong 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Friday near Tonga, generating a tsunami with the potential of striking coastlines in the South Pacific, officials said. There were no immediate reports of damage.
The quake struck about 200 kilometres south-southeast of the Tongan capital of Nuku'alofa at a depth of 10 kilometres, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Police in the Tongan capital said there were no immediate reports of injury or damage.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for Tonga and neighbouring islands, and reported that sea level readings have confirmed that a potentially destructive tsunami wave was generated by the quake.
Local radio stations in Tonga broadcast warnings that a tsunami was possible and that people should move away from coastal villages, but police and locals said no big wave had been reported.
Police spokesperson Niua Kama said residents did not appear to take the warning seriously.
The tsunami centre also advised that some coastal areas of Hawaii could see a rise in sea level and strong currents lasting up to several hours.

[lurkey]

Absolutely spectacular pictures here

[HURAKAN]

Thanks. The power of Nature. Amazing!

[JonathanBelles]

Absolutely spectacular pictures here

That looks like a huge rock, not an explosion! That 4th picture looks like an amazing explosion, and sort of looked like the lost smoke monster! ROFL! It also looks like a lion looking right. This is one disaster I wish I was there for.

[tropicana]

it would be interesting to have water temperatures around this area and see how they are affected by undersea volcanoes.

-justin-

[lurkey]

it would be interesting to have water temperatures around this area and see how they are affected by undersea volcanoes.

-justin-

There have a couple more major seismic events around Tonga. .

[lurkey]

More pictures of the eruption

[masaji79]

Those are awesome pictures!