Eruption Creates A New Pacific Island

An undersea volcanic eruption in the Pacific Ocean has given Tonga a brand new island that is getting bigger every day.

The eruption began about two weeks ago, at first sending a plume of smoke and steam more than 8,500 feet into the air above Tonga’s Ha’apai group of islands, which lie on a volcanic fault line.

Days later, when some of the smoke cleared, an island had appeared.

“It’s quite a sizeable island - it must be a couple of acres and between 40 to 50 feet above sea level at its highest point,” said Inoke Faletau, deputy secretary in the Tongan prime minister’s department.

“Reports say it is growing larger every day. It keeps erupting every so often, throwing debris all over the place. There’s this whole fireworks display going on.”

Tonga currently has about 150 islands, but whether the newcomer sticks around to be the 151st remains to be seen.

The latest eruption is centered on the submerged Metis shoal, where volcanic activity in 1969 created another island, which later sunk or was washed away.

“There’s quite a heavy formation of rock already,” Faletau said. “There’s no discernible (volcanic) cone, just one big large black land mass.”

Authorities do not believe the eruption poses any danger to nearby islands in the Ha’apai group, which already includes two large active volcanoes.

Aircraft flying over the Pacific were warned by aviation authorities last week to keep clear of smoke from the eruption.