Large Scale UnderSea Volcano Erupted Off Tonga in South Pacific Today 3/18

A large Eruption of an Undersea Volcano happened today 3/18/09 - Off the Island of Tonga where 36 volcanos are clustered. It does not pose problems for any residents on the island as the wind is taking the gas and steam in the other direction. The islanders noticed a large amounts of steam and ash coming out of the water. They had been having Earthquakes in the area.

link to article: news.aol.com...

An undersea volcano erupted off the coast of Tonga shooting clouds of smoke, steam and ash thousands of feet into the sky above the South Pacific ocean, officials said Wednesday

Spectacular columns spewed out of the sea about 6 miles from the southwest coast off the main island of Tongatapu — an area where up to 36 undersea volcanoes are clustered, said Tonga's geological service head, Keleti Mafi.

"It's a very significant eruption, on quite a large scale," he told The Associated Press.

There was no sign the offshore eruption posed any danger to residents, he said, with trade winds blowing gas and steam away from the island.
Residents said the steam and ash column first appeared on Monday morning, after a series of sharp earthquakes were felt in the capital, Nuku'alofa.

"This is not unusual for this area and we expect this to happen here at any time," Mafi said, adding that a similar eruption took place there in 2002

A Defense Force boat was expected to travel to the region soon to check the area.
It was likely the underwater eruption was taking place to the west of the low-lying twin volcanic islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai, within sight of Nuku'alofa.

Large amounts of pumice thrown up by the erupting volcano would likely clog beaches on the southern coast of nearby Fiji islands within a short time, he said.

Tonga, a 170-island archipelago about halfway between Australia and Tahiti, is part of the Pacific "ring of fire" — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from Chile in South America through Alaska and down through Vanuatu to Tonga.

Here is an article from Science Blog:scienceblogs.com...

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (how's that for a name?), a shallow seamount in Tonga, appears to have erupted. An air passenger snapped some pictures of an eruption occurring in the ocean between the Tongatapu and Vava'u and pilots in the area report that (unsurprisingly), the feature is new.

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai - at least the part above water (look in the bottom of the image, the islands are marked in green) - is made of two small islands that cap the main seamount and ring the volcano's caldera. The last known eruption from the volcano was in 1988 - over twenty years ago - so this is exciting to see a new event. However, the 1988 eruption was apparently quite small (VEI 0), so the last major eruption might have been as far back as 1937 (VEI 2). Beyond that, not much is know about this volcano in the Tongan arc.

This is the picture they discuss in the blog

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8d06b7164e76.jpg[/atsimg]

That really is an awesome picture, imagine flying in a plane and seeing something like that!


The first link has 2 more pictures, but it will not let me get them, so you need to go to the link, to see more.







[edit on 18-3-2009 by questioningall]

I'm trying to find the coordinates. Any ideas?

reply to post by SumnerKagan


Latitude: S 18° 39.068 Longitude: W 174° 10.367

Try these---will get you there...

Some higher resolution images:







Truly a beautiful sight.

Also a satellite image:

I wonder if this is why there have been so many whales and dolphins beaching themselves in the South Pacific recently.

reply to post by ikkuvaljo


Thank you for those links, I got the photos out of the link and am putting them here:

So these photos, are Thanks to ikkuvaljo -

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/505ece6d78e2.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9a9ba9ec37f1.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/90e48dde5a96.jpg[/atsimg]

[edit on 19-3-2009 by questioningall]

reply to post by sweetpeanc



I have wondered, if this is part of beachings and the dead fish around Hawaii, though it is a long way.

One thing when I have been finding about when I have been doing continual searches on any whale/dolphin beachings is.... many are not found until after the fact in places and islands that are not inhabited.

In other words, there are 170 islands that make up Tonga, so ......... there could have been beachings, but they have not been found. Then there will be on "media" spot light on it.

Funny, you asked, that .... because that was my first question too. Besides how many dead fish had been washing up on shore for a time previous to the "big eruption".

Apparently, it was at Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai.
Between 2 low lying volcanic islands.
I search for that in Google earth.
20°34'12.00"S 175°22'48.00"W
And I find this.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b2af4c0eb47b.jpg[/atsimg]
Why have they blanked it out?

reply to post by CaptainCaveMan


wow, you are so right!

They have blurred/blacked it out! Why?

What is wrong with the google/PTB - why do they hide so many places on the Earth by blurring........... WHAT is IT they don't think we "should" see?!

Unbelievable.

Originally posted by questioningall
They have blurred/blacked it out! Why?

Could it be a recent sat shot and the ash cloud is showing, blurring the view?

This starts top make me wonder, what was really there?
Because the pics on Google earth, are taken ages ago.
Why did they feel the need to airbrush it out, long ago, before it erupted?
Nah it wouldn't be recent.All those pics on there are ages old.
My house was even before I lived here.
But clearly its not being blocked by something.
Its airbrushed out!


[edit on 19-3-2009 by CaptainCaveMan]

reply to post by CaptainCaveMan



Try this site:

www.flashearth.com...

Here is a map - where Tonga is located;

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6623e49fd158.png[/atsimg]

Nah no good.
It doesn't show Hunga Tonga Island or Hunga Ha'apai.
It finds Tonga but it has no close up view and its all covered by clouds.

Originally posted by questioningall
Here is a map - where Tonga is located;

Yeh but its not Ha'apai.
Its Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai.
There is an Island called Hunga Tonga and another Island called Hunga Ha'apai.
Its in between these 2 where the so called volcano erupted.
The whole area is airbrushed out on Google earth.
I can find these 2 pics that seem to have some landmark registered to them.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d4ebe5a64823.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7d5ee079fb13.jpg[/atsimg]




[edit on 19-3-2009 by CaptainCaveMan]

reply to post by Chadwickus



Thanks for that.

HEY, - take a look on Flash Earth right now,

I had been researching lots about "earthquake" clouds.

I found there would be a "line" also wavy type clouds in my researches before a quake hits.

Take a look - right at New Zealand - there is a definite "line" cloud with a cloud pattern right above it, that is also like "Earthquake" clouds.

Coordinates are:

25 .42 .29 Lat
172 11 42 Long

Interesting

Something "big" about to hit that area?

reply to post by CaptainCaveMan


Actually it is all part of Tonga - Tonga consist of 170 islands - which this area is part of.

link to info on Tonga
news.bbc.co.uk...

Here are some more photos I found, awesome up close photo of eruption.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ad9a81fbcac8.jpg[/atsimg]

This pic. is when it first started

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/267ca6588325.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/38fda13f135a.jpg[/atsimg]

Imagine, being this close to a volcanic eruption! You couldn't do this, if it was on land.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1bd74517764b.jpg[/atsimg]

Are these related??

MAP 7.7 2009/03/19 18:17:43 -23.000 -174.800 5.0 TONGA REGION
MAP 7.8 2009/03/19 18:17:37 -23.052 -174.289 4.0 TONGA REGION

[edit on 2009/3/19 by Shirakawa]

Wow, I wonder if those quakes are two different ones or two different readings of the same one? Either way, that is quite a rattle and roll!