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Title: Monitoring and Modeling the Rapid Evolution of Earth's Newest Volcanic Island: Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (Tonga) Using High Spatial Resolution Satellite Observations

Abstract

We have monitored a newly erupted volcanic island in the Kingdom of Tonga, unofficially known as Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai, by means of relatively frequent high spatial resolution (~50 cm) satellite observations. The new ~1.8 km2 island formed as a tuff cone over the course of a month-long hydromagmatic eruption in early 2015 in the Tonga-Kermadec volcanic arc. Such ash-dominated eruptions usually produce fragile subaerial landscapes that wash away rapidly due to marine erosion, as occurred nearby in 2009. Our measured rates of erosion are ~0.00256 km3/year from derived digital topographic models. Preliminary measurements of the topographic expression of the primary tuff cone over ~30 months suggest a lifetime of ~19 years (and potentially up to 42 years). The ability to measure details of a young island's landscape evolution using satellite remote sensing has not previously been possible at these spatial and temporal resolutions.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]
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  1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  2. Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY (United States)
  3. Canadian Space Agency, Saint‐Hubert, Quebec (Canada)
  4. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  5. Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC/UMD), College Park, MD (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1438984
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-131017
Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Geophysical Research Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 45; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; 47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; surtseyan eruption; Tonga; Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai; very high-resolution satellite imagery; volcanism; remote sensing

Citation Formats

Garvin, J. B., Slayback, D. A., Ferrini, V., Frawley, J., Giguere, C., Asrar, G. R., and Andersen, K. Monitoring and Modeling the Rapid Evolution of Earth's Newest Volcanic Island: Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (Tonga) Using High Spatial Resolution Satellite Observations. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1002/2017GL076621.
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Garvin, J. B., Slayback, D. A., Ferrini, V., Frawley, J., Giguere, C., Asrar, G. R., & Andersen, K. Monitoring and Modeling the Rapid Evolution of Earth's Newest Volcanic Island: Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (Tonga) Using High Spatial Resolution Satellite Observations. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076621
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Garvin, J. B., Slayback, D. A., Ferrini, V., Frawley, J., Giguere, C., Asrar, G. R., and Andersen, K. Sat . "Monitoring and Modeling the Rapid Evolution of Earth's Newest Volcanic Island: Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (Tonga) Using High Spatial Resolution Satellite Observations". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076621. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1438984.
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@article{osti_1438984,
title = {Monitoring and Modeling the Rapid Evolution of Earth's Newest Volcanic Island: Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (Tonga) Using High Spatial Resolution Satellite Observations},
author = {Garvin, J. B. and Slayback, D. A. and Ferrini, V. and Frawley, J. and Giguere, C. and Asrar, G. R. and Andersen, K.},
abstractNote = {We have monitored a newly erupted volcanic island in the Kingdom of Tonga, unofficially known as Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai, by means of relatively frequent high spatial resolution (~50 cm) satellite observations. The new ~1.8 km2 island formed as a tuff cone over the course of a month-long hydromagmatic eruption in early 2015 in the Tonga-Kermadec volcanic arc. Such ash-dominated eruptions usually produce fragile subaerial landscapes that wash away rapidly due to marine erosion, as occurred nearby in 2009. Our measured rates of erosion are ~0.00256 km3/year from derived digital topographic models. Preliminary measurements of the topographic expression of the primary tuff cone over ~30 months suggest a lifetime of ~19 years (and potentially up to 42 years). The ability to measure details of a young island's landscape evolution using satellite remote sensing has not previously been possible at these spatial and temporal resolutions.},
doi = {10.1002/2017GL076621},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 8,
volume = 45,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Sat Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076621
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Cited by: 24 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: The Airbus Pléiades-1A image (left) at the end of the eruptive stage (19 January 2015). This is the initial, preerosional expression of the new island (Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai) with an inset showing its location (red circle). The current state of the island 2.75 years later (right) ismore » shown in a DigitalGlobeWorldView-2 image obtained on 19 September 2017. The evolution of the coastline is depicted in the outlines, with colors ranging from red for January 2015 (early) to blue for September 2017 (latest).« less
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Works referenced in this record:

Satellite observations of a surtseyan eruption: Hunga Ha'apai, Tonga
journal, December 2010

Hydrovolcanic explosions; II, Evolution of basaltic tuff rings and tuff cones
journal, May 1983

  • Wohletz, K. H.; Sheridan, M. F.
  • American Journal of Science, Vol. 283, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.2475/ajs.283.5.385

Climate and the Pace of Erosional Landscape Evolution
journal, August 2017

Geology, petrography, and geochemistry of the volcanic islands of Tonga
journal, March 1972

  • Bryan, W. B.; Stice, G. D.; Ewart, A.
  • Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 77, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1029/JB077i008p01566

Hydrovolcanic tuff rings and cones as indicators for phreatomagmatic explosive eruptions on Mars: PHREATOMAGMATIC ERUPTIONS ON MARS
journal, August 2013

  • Brož, P.; Hauber, E.
  • Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, Vol. 118, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1002/jgre.20120

Pyroclastic rocks
journal, April 1985

Pyroclastic Rocks
journal, October 1985

Pyroclastic rocks
journal, December 1985

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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Coral reef annihilation, persistence and recovery at Earth’s youngest volcanic island
    journal, December 2019

    Diversity of soluble salt concentrations on volcanic ash aggregates from a variety of eruption types and deposits
    journal, June 2019

    • Colombier, Mathieu; Mueller, Sebastian B.; Kueppers, Ulrich
    • Bulletin of Volcanology, Vol. 81, Issue 7
    • DOI: 10.1007/s00445-019-1302-0
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      Figures / Tables found in this record:

      Figure 1 (p. 2)figure
      Figure 2 (p. 3)figure
      Figure 3 (p. 4)figure
      Figure 4 (p. 5)figure
      Table 1 (p. 6)table
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