WASHINGTON: A geological survey of the volcanic motion between Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai started over the weekend while ash eruptions are seen less than in earlier days and a lot less than in previous weeks.
“Substantial ash emissions to the altitudes at which aircraft fly have not been observed for several days,” the National Volcano Advisory Center of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources advised.
International and domestic flights have operated without interruption in the last few days.
Taaniela Kula, of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources who organised the survey said, “The ash is still below the aviation routes.”
The survey team, including two volcanologists from GNS-Science in New Zealand, visited the site, located on a NNW bearing 65km from Vuna Wharf, on January 17, on board the VOEA Pangai. The site observation was sponsored by the New Zealand High Commission.
Nico Fournier, a volcanologist from GNS Science, Taupo, said there is a lot of steam coming out from the volcano. “We do have a small amount of magma or molten, rocks, which are very hot, reaching the surface and essentially at sea level meeting up with seawater and that basically produces some explosions, and occasionally we’ve got some ash being omitted and maybe shooting up to a few hundred metres high, but the ash is very wet,” he said.
The eruption is continuing from the new island that started growing a month ago.
The team issued an advisory that stated, “During most of our time near the island, strong emission of steam to heights of 7 – 10 km was observed, but with only limited amounts of ash. Later, some eruptions that threw dense, wet ash and small rocks 200-300m into the air, [were] accompanied by further strong emissions of steam.”
