Image by USGS
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In August, crew members of a yacht sailing through the Tonga Islands spotted a massive pumice raft covering several square kilometers of ocean. A pumice raft is a large quantity of pumice fragments floating on the ocean surface (pumice is a volcanic rock that contains so many gas vesicles that it floats).
This raft was produced by the eruption of a new volcanic island located about 20 kilometers southwest of Late Island. Pumice rafts are a rare occurrence, seen perhaps once a decade during the eruption of a marine volcano.
Pumice raft floating near Late Island - Image by NASAThe image above (taken on September 15 - about a month after the eruption) shows the new volcanic island in the southwest corner of the image and the pumice raft to the northwest of Late Island. A trail of pumice connects the raft to Late Island.
Read more details and see close-up photos of the pumice raft taken by the yacht crew at
Tonga Online.
Labels: Volcanoes
