Underwater Volcano Spews Pumice

An international team of scientists is about to board a ship carrying two underwater robots called ‘Sentry’ and ‘Jason’ to learn more about a massive volcano on the seabed that is producing tonnes of pumice that is being washed up on the beaches of New Zealand and Australia.

When big pieces of pumice – a light, porous volcanic rock formed when a gas-rich froth of glassy lava solidifies rapidly – began washing up on the beaches of Tasmania, Dr. Rebecca Carey, a volcanologist who works at the School of Earth Sciences and CODES, University of Tasmania, knew exactly where they were coming from – the massive underwater Havre volcano in the Kermadec region approximately 1,000km (621 miles) north of Auckland.

The pumice, which had been travelling the ocean for over a year, was being tracked by Dr. Carey.  Dr. Carey is about to travel to the volcano aboard US ship Roger Revelle with researchers and PhD students from five different countries to learn more about the eruption. The team will use two robots to learn more about the Havre volcanic eruption: An autonomous underwater vehicle called ‘Sentry’, and a remotely operated vehicle dubbed ‘Jason’.

Sentry can take digital photographs of deep-sea terrain and is equipped with sonars. With Jason, the scientists will have access to the seafloor while remaining on the ship. It will gather samples of marine life, sediment and rock, and transmit images and video.

"This is the voyage of a new frontier – the sea floor," – said Dr. Carey.