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New videos show the first ever observations of deep submarine volcanic eruptions.
Most of the Earth's volcanic activity happens underwater, anywhere from the surface all the way down to depths greater than 2.5 miles.
However, this underwater activity has rarely been seen directly. Previous accounts were either after the eruptions or by surface vessels that couldn't get close enough to the action.
Submerged fireworks
In March 2004, a team of NOAAscientists sent a remotely operated research submarine, named ROPOS to find some hot vents along the Mariana Arc volcanic chain.
"What we found was an eruption in progress," said Verena Tunnicliffe, a biologist at University of Victoria, Canada. "We found this big pit with rocks and molten sulfur flying out. And we were sitting at the edge of this pit."
Pulsating plumes of opaque yellowish ash containing droplets of sulfur started surging out of a feature called Brimstone Pit, close to the summit of a volcano named NW Rota-1, 60 miles northwest of the island of Rota in the North Pacific Ocean, at 1,820 feet below the water surface [VIDEOS: 1 and 2].
It wasn't until the scientists brought the vehicle to surface that they saw the dime-sized golden droplets covering the exterior of ROPOS. The results are detailed in the May 25 issue of the journal Nature.
New videos show the first ever observations of deep submarine volcanic eruptions.
Most of the Earth's volcanic activity happens underwater, anywhere from the surface all the way down to depths greater than 2.5 miles.
However, this underwater activity has rarely been seen directly. Previous accounts were either after the eruptions or by surface vessels that couldn't get close enough to the action.
Submerged fireworks
In March 2004, a team of NOAAscientists sent a remotely operated research submarine, named ROPOS to find some hot vents along the Mariana Arc volcanic chain.
"What we found was an eruption in progress," said Verena Tunnicliffe, a biologist at University of Victoria, Canada. "We found this big pit with rocks and molten sulfur flying out. And we were sitting at the edge of this pit."
Pulsating plumes of opaque yellowish ash containing droplets of sulfur started surging out of a feature called Brimstone Pit, close to the summit of a volcano named NW Rota-1, 60 miles northwest of the island of Rota in the North Pacific Ocean, at 1,820 feet below the water surface [VIDEOS: 1 and 2].
It wasn't until the scientists brought the vehicle to surface that they saw the dime-sized golden droplets covering the exterior of ROPOS. The results are detailed in the May 25 issue of the journal Nature.
