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

2018; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 45; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/2017gl076621

1944-8007

J. B. Garvin, D. A. Slayback, V. L. Ferrini, J. J. Frawley, Christine Giguere, Ghassem Asrar, Knud Andersen,

Geological and Geochemical Analysis

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.