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Polynesia: an underwater volcano eruption has created a new island

Listen to this article In the South Pacific Ocean, an underwater volcanic eruption created a temporary island about 1 km in diameter. It all happened near the Tonga archipelago, between the tiny islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai. A similar eruption took place in 2009. The volcano’s activity began in November 2014. And the

ByTomasz Andrukajtis

Published: March 11, 2015 - 19:42

Updated: July 22, 2023 - 10:15

Polynesia: an underwater volcano eruption has created a new island

Listen to this article

In the South Pacific Ocean, an underwater volcanic eruption created a temporary island about 1 km in diameter. It all happened near the Tonga archipelago, between the tiny islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai.

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A similar eruption took place in 2009.

The volcano’s activity began in November 2014. And the eruption occurred in early 2015. It lasted for almost the entire following month. It all happened just 65km southwest of the capital of the tiny country of Tonga – Nuku’alofa.

The whole situation was very problematic, as the eruption sent dangerous volcanic ash into the air, which reached a height of 4 500 metres! This brought air traffic in the region to a complete standstill. An additional side effect of the volcanic eruption was the so-called ‘red wave’ among the surrounding algae and algae.

According to geological experts, the new island, due to its weak structure, will disappear through erosion-inducing processes within the next few months.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

About author

Tomasz Andrukajtis

Editor-in-chief of the DIVERS24 portal and magazine. Responsible for obtaining, translating and developing content. He also supervises all publications. Achived his first diving certification – P1 CMAS, in 2000. Has a degree in journalism and social communication. In the diving industry since 2008.