Underwater Volcano Fukutoku-Okanoba Explodes
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Over the past decade, the Japan Coast Guard has occasionally spotted patches of milky blue water about 5 kilometers (3 miles) north of South Iwo Jima island. The discolored water has been a subtle reminder that the summit of an active volcano-Fukutoku-Okanoba-lurks about 25 meters (80 feet) below the water surface.
On August 13, 2021, there was much more than just discolored water. A photograph taken by a Coast Guard aircraft flying near the volcano showed a towering plume of gas rising several kilometers into the air-a sure sign that explosive Surtseyan" eruptions were happening.
Satellite observations and follow-up flights filled in more details. The Japanese geostationary satellite Himawari 8 was among the first satellites to observe the eruption, showing its beginning stages at about 21:00 UTC (6 a.m. local time) on August 12, 2021. When NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on the Terra satellite acquired its first image of the event on August 13, it showed a bright plume-likely steam and volcanic gases-streaming from the vent and stretching hundreds of kilometers to the west.
The longevity and vigor of the plume surprised some scientists. What was remarkable about this eruption is that it went straight from being a submarine event to an eruption cloud reaching the lower boundary of the stratosphere," explained Andrew Tupper, a meteorologist with Natural Hazards Consulting and a specialist in hazards to aviation. That is not very common for this type of volcano. We normally see lower-level plumes from submarine eruptions."
[...] Aviation and marine warning systems for remote submarine volcanoes are still very much developing," said Tupper. Combining cutting-edge satellite data with surface observations gives us the best possible chance to respond in time."
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