Kawachi Volcano is considered one of the most active underwater volcanoes on the planet. (Photo credit: NASA/Landsat/Joshua Stevens)
This stunning image shows a large column of discolored water rising to the surface of the Pacific Ocean from the Kawachi volcano, also known as 'Shark Canyon', during an underwater eruption.
Kawachi is an underwater volcano located in the Solomon Islands, approximately 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Vangunu Island. Its summit rises approximately 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) above the seabed and is only 65 feet (20 m) below the surface. The volcano is named after the Vangunu sea god and is also known as “Reho te Kwachi” or “Kawachi's Furnace,” according to NASA's Earth Observatory.
In 2015, the research team discovered large numbers of scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) and silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) living in the volcano’s central crater. The surprising presence of these ocean predators on the volcano raised “new questions about the ecology of active underwater volcanoes and the extreme environments in which large marine organisms live,” the researchers noted.
It is unclear whether the sharks in Kawachi were hit by the blast that produced the plume in the image, or whether they were able to anticipate the coming eruption and escape the crater.
This image was first posted in May 2022 by NASA Goddard on the social media platform X with the caption: “You've heard of Sharknado, now get ready for Sharknado.”
Kawachi's most powerful eruption occurred in October 2016, when volcanic material was ejected over the ocean surface.
The plume in the image is part of an eruption that began in October 2021 and continued for just a few weeks after the aerial photo was taken. Similar plumes were recorded during subsequent eruptions in August 2023 and April 2024, according to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History's Global Volcanism Program.
Before this one, the volcano's last major eruptions were in 2016, 2014, 2007, and 2003. In the past, researchers have also noted the appearance of ephemeral islands up to half a mile (1 km) wide that formed during eruptions and were then submerged. A similar ghostly landmass recently emerged after an underwater volcano in Japan blew its summit in 2023.
Explosion
Sourse: www.livescience.com
