2012 Kermadec Islands eruption

Major undersea volcanic eruption in the Kermadec Islands of New Zealand January 2020 October 2017 2012 Kermadec Islands eruption File:Havre Seamount Eruption 19 July 2012 with labels.jpg 200px NASA image of Havre Seamount eruption and initial formation of pumice raft 18 July 2012 Morning 19 July 2012 Havre Seamount Submarine Kermadec Islands 31 07 13 S 179 58 07 W inline 1 The 2012 Kermadec Islands eruption was a major undersea volcanic eruption that was produced by the previously little-known Havre Seamount near the L'Esperance and L'Havre Rockshttp://ars.sciencedirect.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0377027306001181-gr2.jpg Science Direct map of Kermadec Islands and Seamounts 14 August 2012 9 March 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160309085759/http://ars.sciencedirect.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0377027306001181-gr2.jpg dead in the Kermadec Islands of New Zealand.Klemetti Erik Havre Seamount: The Source of Kermadec Island Pumice Raft? Wired 13 August 2012 https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/source-of-kermadec-island-pumice-raft-eruption-identified/ 13 August 2012Bryner Jeanna 14 August 2012 'Raft' in Pacific Found, NASA Says Live Science http://www.livescience.com/22339-pumice-raft-pacific-volcano-source.html 14 August 2012 The large volume of low density pumice produced by the eruption accumulated as a large area of floating pumice, a pumice raft, that was originally covering a surface of 400 km² off, spread to a continuous float of between 7500 and 10000 sqmi km2 flip onMemmott Mark 10 August 2012 7,500 Square Miles of Pumice Floating in Pacific Is 'Weirdest Thing I've Seen' NPR https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/08/10/158577099/7-500-square-miles-of-pumice-floating-in-pacific-is-weirdest-thing-ive-seen 13 August 201210 August 2012 Massive Rock Raft Found Floating off New Zealand ABC News Associated Press https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/massive-rock-raft-found-floating-off-zealand-16975179 dead 13 August 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120812163042/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/massive-rock-raft-found-floating-off-zealand-16975179 12 August 2012 and within three months dispersed to an area of more than twice the size of New Zealand.Website https://web.archive.org/web/20230727093222/https://web.whoi.edu/mesh/ 27 July 2023 of the expedition Mesh The thickness of the raft may initially have been as high as 3.5 m off and was reduced to around 50 cm on within a month.Jutzeler Martin Marsh Robert Carey Rebecca J. White James D. L. Talling Peter J. Karlstrom Leif 22 April 2014 On the fate of pumice rafts formed during the 2012 Havre submarine eruption Nature Communications 5 3660 3660 10.1038/ncomms4660 free 3997806 24755668 2014NatCo...5.3660J Three months after the eruption, the mass had dispersed into very dilute rafts and ribbons of floating pumice clasts. Most pumice clasts became waterlogged and sank to the sea floor, while some flocks have stranded in the Tonga islands, on the northern shores of New Zealand, and eventually on the eastern coast of Australia one year after the eruption. While the eruption is officially rated as a VEI-1 by the Smithsonian Institution, studies have found that approximately 1.5 cubic kilometres of material erupted, which correlates to a VEI-5 eruption.Carey Rebecca Soule S. Adam Manga Michael White James D. L. McPhie Jocelyn Wysoczanski Richard Jutzeler Martin Tani Kenichiro Yoerger Dana Fornari Daniel Caratori-Tontini Fabio 2018-01-05 The largest deep-ocean silicic volcanic eruption of the past century Science Advances en 4 1 e1701121 10.1126/sciadv.1701121 2375-2548 5762192 29326974 2018SciA....4.1121C Eruption thumb|left|200px|Bathymetric map of Kermadec islands and seamounts The eruption of the Havre Seamount was not initially noticed by scientists, and volcanologists were not even aware that the Havre Seamount was an active submarine volcano. After the pumice raft was detected, researchers retrospectively examined satellite imagery and past seismic activity in an attempt to pinpoint the time and location of the eruption that produced the pumice raft. Seismologists discovered a cluster of earthquakes (ranging in magnitude between 3.0 and 4.8) that occurred 18–19 July 2012.Cooke Michelle 11 August 2012 Scientists rock theory on pumice raft Stuff.co.nz http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/7461485/Scientists-rock-theory-on-pumice-raft 13 August 2012 These earthquakes were consistent with magma rising into a magma chamber prior to eruption. Analysis of satellite imagery showed an ash plume appear on 18 July 2012 and conclude several days later. Although some volcanologists initially believed that the eruption might have occurred at the Monowai Seamount, this possibility was later ruled out. It is also believed that the eruption was unrelated to the 2012 Te Māri eruption at New Zealand's Mount Tongariro.Gannon Megan 10 August 2012 Huge pumice rock 'island' seen floating in South Pacific: New Zealand's Royal Navy spots raft larger than Israel — but no one knows where it's from NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna48613730 13 August 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20230727093223/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna48613730 27 July 2023 In 2015, a scientific expedition set out to study changes of seafloor topography in the area surrounding Havre Seamount. The same group of researchers mapped the distribution of the floating pumice blocks driven by wind, ocean currents and eddies. Pumice raft thumb|right|200px|Kermadec Islands pumice raft on 12 August 2012. Raft can be seen as fibrous tendrils primarily in lower right quadrant; Raoul Island can be seen as green dot near upper right. Scientists were not aware that any eruption had occurred until a huge pumice raft was sighted and photographed at 14:40 NZST on 31 July 2012 by Maggie de Grauw while on a commercial flight from Faleolo, Samoa to Auckland, New Zealand. She emailed her pictures to Dr Scott Bryan, senior research fellow at Queensland University of Technology. After discussion, it was ascertained that the raft was around 1000 km on -2 north of Auckland. Bryan then contacted Olivier Hyvernaud from the Laboratoire de Géophysique, Tahiti, who confirmed the location from Terra/MODIS imagery from NASA. The raft was subsequently sighted by members of the New Zealand Defence Force on 9 August 2012Gannon Megan 13 August 2012 Mystery Rock Shelf Floating in Pacific: Floating pumice rocks are covering an area larger than Israel in the South Pacific. Discovery News http://news.discovery.com/earth/pacific-pumice-island-120813.html dead 13 August 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120815185904/http://news.discovery.com/earth/pacific-pumice-island-120813.html 15 August 2012—several weeks after the eruption had occurred. It was spotted by an Orion aircraft and then approached and sampled by the strategic sealift ship HMNZS Canterbury. The pumice raft measured approximately 300 mi km -2 flip on in length and more than 30 mi km -1 flip on in width, making the floating island larger in surface area than Israel. An officer in the Royal Australian Navy said that it was "the weirdest thing [he had] seen in 18 years at sea". References Category:Submarine eruptions Category:21st-century volcanic events Category:Geography of the New Zealand seabed Category:Seamounts of the Pacific Ocean Category:Kermadec Islands Category:Floating islands Kermadec Islands eruption Category:History of the New Zealand outlying islands Kermadec Islands Category:Volcanic eruptions in New Zealand