Download Scientists Discover and Image Explosive Deep

NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Scientists Discover and Im...
Page 1 of 4
Scientists Discover and Image Explosive Deep-Ocean Volcano
NOAA-NSF Mission Adds to Understanding of Basic Earth Processes
December 17, 2009
Scientists funded by NOAA and the National
Science Foundation recorded the deepest erupting
volcano yet discovered, describing high-definition
video of the undersea eruption as “spectacular.”
Eruption of the West Mata volcano, discovered in
May, occurred nearly 4,000 feet below the surface
of the Pacific Ocean, in an area bounded by Fiji,
Tonga and Samoa.
Imagery includes large molten lava bubbles
approximately three feet across bursting into cold
seawater, glowing red vents explosively ejecting
lava into the sea, and the first-observed advance of
lava flows across the deep-ocean seafloor. Sounds
of the explosive eruption were recorded by a
hydrophone and later matched to the video footage.
ROV Jason gets a close view of magma explosions and lava
flows on West Mata volcano (May 2009).
Download as Quicktime: Video 1 [Web resolution] (Credit:
NOAA and NSF)
“We found a type of lava never before seen erupting from an active volcano, and for the first time observed
molten lava flowing across the deep-ocean seafloor,” said the mission’s Chief Scientist Joseph Resing, a
chemical oceanographer at the University of Washington who collaborates with NOAA through the Joint Institute
for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean. “Though NOAA and partners discovered a much shallower eruption
in 2004 in the Mariana Arc, the deeper we get, the closer the eruption is to those that formed most of the oceanic
crust.”
ROV Jason gets a close view of magma explosions and lava
flows on West Mata volcano (May 2009).
Download as Quicktime: Video 2 [Web resolution] (Credit:
NOAA and NSF)
“It was an underwater Fourth of July – a spectacular
display of fireworks nearly 4,000 feet deep,” said
Co-Chief Scientist Bob Embley, a marine geologist
based in the Newport, Ore., office of NOAA’s
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. “Since
the water pressure at that depth suppresses the
violence of the volcano’s explosions, we could get
the underwater robot within feet of the active
eruption. On land, or even in shallow water, you
could never hope to get this close and see such
great detail,” he said.
Mission scientists released the video and discussed
their scientific observations at a Dec. 17 news
conference at the American Geophysical Union’s
annual fall meeting in San Francisco.
“For the first time we have been able to examine, up close, the way ocean islands and submarine volcanoes are
born,” says Barbara Ransom, program director in NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences. “The unusual primitive
compositions of the West Mata eruption lavas have much to tell us.”
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20091217_volcano2.html
12/18/2009
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Scientists Discover and Im...
Page 2 of 4
The West Mata volcano is producing Boninite lavas, believed to be among the hottest erupting on Earth in
modern times, and a type only seen before on extinct volcanoes older than a million years. University of Hawaii
geochemist Ken Rubin believes this active Boninite eruption provides a unique opportunity to study magma
formation at volcanoes and how the Earth recycles material where one tectonic plate is subducted under another
– a long-term goal of many Earth scientists.
Water from the volcano is very acidic, with some samples collected directly above the eruption measuring
somewhere between battery acid and stomach acid. Julie Huber, a microbiologist at the Marine Biological
Laboratory, found diverse microbes even in such extreme conditions.
Tim Shank, a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), found shrimp were the only
animals thriving in the acidic vent water near the eruption. Shank is analyzing shrimp DNA to determine if they
are the same species as those found at eruptive seamounts more than 3,000 miles away.
Mission scientists believe 80 percent of eruptive activity on Earth takes place in the ocean, and most volcanoes
are in the deep ocean. Until this discovery, NOAA and NSF had sponsored research on submarine volcanoes for
25 years without observing a deep-ocean eruption. Scientists believe further study of active deep-ocean
eruptions will provide a better understanding of oceanic cycles of carbon dioxide and sulfur gases, how heat and
matter are transferred from the interior of the Earth to its surface, and how life adapts to some of the harshest
conditions on Earth.
The science team operated from the University of Washington’s research vessel Thomas Thompson, and
deployed Jason, a remotely-operated underwater robot operated by WHOI that is recognized as one of the most
capable in the world. Jason collected samples using its manipulator arms and obtained imagery using a
prototype still and HD imaging system developed and operated by the Advanced Imaging and Visualization Lab
at WHOI.
Other participants included Oregon State University, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Western
Washington University, Portland State University, Harvard University, the University of Tulsa, California State
University’s Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, the University of California Santa Cruz and Lamont Doherty Earth
Observatory.
The National Science Foundation is an independent U.S. government agency responsible for promoting science
and engineering through research programs and education projects.
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the
surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.
Video 1:
This is a sequence of explosive degassing events as bubbles of gas- rich magma burst, spewing lava fragments
into the water. At same time, lava is being extruded out of the vent and down the slope. The area in view is
about 6-10 feet across in an eruptive area approximately 100 yards that runs along the summit. Courtesy of
National Science Foundation and NOAA.
Video 2:
This spectacular sequence is a closer view of the eruption with violent magma degassing events producing
bright flashes of hot magma. Lava is blown up into the water before settling back to the seafloor, and large plugs
of lava flow rapidly down the slope. In the foreground is the front of the Jason remotely-operated vehicle (ROV)
with sampling hoses. The area in view is about 6-10 feet across in an eruptive area approximately 100 yards that
runs along the summit. Courtesy of National Science Foundation and NOAA.
Still Images
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20091217_volcano2.html
12/18/2009
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Scientists Discover and Im...
Explosion near summit of West Mata volcano throws ash and rock.
Molten lava glows below. Image is about six feet across in an
eruptive area about 100 yards that runs along the summit.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA and NSF)
Page 3 of 4
Hot magma blows up into the water before settling to the seafloor.
Foreground: Jason remotely-operated vehicle with sampling
hoses. Image is about 6-10 feet across in an eruptive area about
100 yards that runs along the summit.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA and NSF)
Jason remotely-operated vehicle samples fluid at an eruptive area
near the summit of the West Mata Volcano. The fluid sampling “wand”
Orange glow of magma is visible on left of sulfur-laden plume. Image
is about three feet long.
is about six feet across in an eruptive area about
100 yards that runs along the summit.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA and NSF)
High resolution (Credit: NOAA and NSF)
Summit of West Mata Volcano, shown in red, is nearly a mile below
the ocean surface (1,165 meters / 3,882 feet), and the base, shown
in blue, descends to nearly two miles (3,000 meters / 9,842 feet)
deep. Eruptions occurred at several places along the summit, in an
area about 100 yards. The volcano has a six-mile-long rift zone
running along its spine in a SW/NE orientation.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)
West Mata Volcano (white ellipse on bathymetric map) is not the
largest volcano in the northeast Lau Basin, but appears to be the
most active. Map represents the area visited and mapped on two
recent expeditions. Summit of West Mata Volcano is nearly one mile
deep, the base is nearly two miles deep. Tonga Trench (north and
east of the expedition area) is nearly seven miles deep.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20091217_volcano2.html
12/18/2009
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Scientists Discover and Im...
Page 4 of 4
Superheated molten lava, about 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, is about
to explode into the water in this image. The area in view is about 6-10
feet across in an eruptive area approximately the length of a football
field that runs along the summit.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA and NSF)
West Mata Volcano, in the Lau Basin, is located in the southwest
Pacific, within an area bounded by Samoa, Tonga and Fiji (the black
areas on the map, which are the only areas above water). Area is
home to many submarine volcanoes.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)
Bands of glowing magma, about 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit,
are exposed as a pillow lava tube extrudes down slope.
Image is about three feet across in an eruptive area about
100 yards that runs along the summit.
Close-up view of the shrimp at summit of West Mata Volcano. May be
the same species as those found at eruptive sites more than 3,000
miles away.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA and NSF)
High resolution (Credit: NOAA and NSF)
Privacy Policy | FOIA | Information Quality | USA.gov | Ready.gov | Site Map | Contact Webmaster
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20091217_volcano2.html
12/18/2009