Photo Essay: Spectacular eruption of an underwater volcano

DailyMail.uk ^ | 19th March 2009 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Pictured: The spectacular eruption of an underwater volcano in the South Pacific

...The spectacular columns blasted out of the South Pacific yesterday six miles off the coast of Tonga's main island Tongatapu. The eruption can be seen clearly from the capital, Nuku'alofa...

Towering above, the sheer power of the underwater volcano could be seen
for many miles

...No warnings have been issued to the coastal villages...The situation...helped by trade winds which...blow gas and steam away from the island.
The roiling seas beneath the full fury of the undersea volcano which is part
of a cluster of 36 in the area

Spectators edge closer to the drama being played out in front of them
just six miles off Tonga's main island of Tongatapu

The puff of white is the eruption in Tonga seen by satellite. The island at the lower edge
is Tongatapu, where the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa is located

Tonga 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

...Tonga, a 170-island archipelago about halfway between Australia and Tahiti...

The debris from the offshore eruption is expected to drift over to the southern coast of
Fiji and clog its beaches

The column of steam and ash first appeared on Monday, after a series of sharp
earthquakes were felt in Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa

[Constitution Day]

AMAZING!

Last night I watched a “How The Earth Was Made” special on Krakatoa...this reminds me of it!

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Can we get one of those to erupt under the Capitol?

[Chances Are]

Cool, Mother Nature made a drain hole to compensate for the rising oceans caused by the melting icebergs caused by global warming which was caused by evil SUVs.

Why don't you send that rather succinct analysis along to Al Gore? I'm sure he'd appreciate it!

CA....

[Arrowhead1952]

"Come hither, my children."

[Strategerist]

Robert Felix has been a proponent of the theory of excessive underwater volcanic activity which is the source, to a great extent, of the rising temps. of the oceans.

There is no evidence of excessive underwater volcanic activity; it's always been going on for billions of years and there's no evidence there's any more now than there always has been.

Ice Age Now is a crackpot site and it's a bit disturbing it's being "taught."

[PapaBear3625]

I think it likely that this eruption will toss more CO2 into the air than the whole US does. But it’s “natural” so nobody will care.

[Smokin' Joe]

If you haven't already, do a web search for "Surtsey", which formed near Iceland over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the late '60s/early '70s. National Geographic did a good job of documenting its formation.

Spreading centers/rift zones are another popular plate boundary for volcanic activity, but most of it is underwater.

[I Buried My Guns]

I have read that volcanism produces more particulate matter and CO2 in a year than the entire cumulative output of all machines, vehicles, and factories since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

[AppyPappy]

I’m waiting for Godzilla to appear

[MinuteGal]

# 18 looks like Whoopi Goldberg's hair do on a good day.

Leni

[ExSoldier]

I’m waiting for Godzilla to appear

Ping for your avatar!

[shoutingandpointing]

Ooooooooooh. . . . What an awesome display of monochromatical carbonificationary globular warmingness of the sea and sky! Nature does this every now and to remind we puny mortals that she holds all the face cards.

[Godzilla]

I’m waiting for Godzilla to appear

[VlPu]

“which formed near Iceland over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge”

How comes that the official ocean relief map (used by Google Earth) indicated a depth of at least 1200 ft for the coordinates of the volcano that erupted out from the ocean?

Answer: google, result #1 says it all
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mid+atlantic+ridge+hoax

[Steve Van Doorn]

Yeah they are to close. The wave could have knocked the boat over.

[Arrowhead1952]

When I watched the video, I knew they were nuts.

[Steve Van Doorn]

oh wow I didn’t see the video.... At least they knew they were to close (to late.)

[Arrowhead1952]

http://www.inquisitr.com/20262/tonga-volcanic-eruption-video/

[PapaBear3625]

USGS.gov has an estimate that volcanoes emit about 145-255 million tons of CO2 per year, versus 30 billion tons for human activities.

[Smokin' Joe]

Try here instead. If you go looking for global warming hoaxes, that information is out there, too. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Surtsey&btnG=Search