Huge volcanic rock ‘ice-shelf’ spotted in Pacific

Huge volcanic rock ‘ice-shelf’ spotted in Pacific

August 2006 brought two new things to the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific. One was a raft of lightweight, frothy volcanic rock—pumice—floating on the ocean surface. The other was a new island emerging out of the water. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the aftermath of the eruption on August 10, 2006 (top), at 1:30 UTC. The raft of pumice appears to the northeast of the emerging island, and it actually connects, via a thin thread, to neighboring Late Island