QUICK FACTSWhere is it? Kavachi volcano, Solomon Islands [-8.992492984, 157.96863838]What is within the picture? A plume of discolored water emerging up from an undersea eruptionWhich satellite tv for pc took the picture? Landsat 9When was once it taken? Might 14, 2022This ordinary symbol presentations a big plume of discolored water emerging towards the Pacific Ocean’s floor from the Kavachi volcano, often referred to as “sharkcano,” all through an undersea eruption.Kavachi is a submarine volcano that is a part of the Solomon Islands, round 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Vangunu Island. Its height stands more or less 3,600 ft (1,100 meters) above the seafloor and lies simply 65 ft (20 m) underneath the waves. The volcano is known as after the ocean god of the Vangunu other people and could also be known as “Rejo te Kvachi,” or “Kavachi’s Oven,” in keeping with NASA’s Earth Observatory.In 2015, a analysis expedition came upon a couple of scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) and silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) dwelling throughout the volcano’s central crater. The sudden presence of the oceanic predators on the volcano raised “new questions in regards to the ecology of energetic submarine volcanoes and the intense environments wherein massive marine animals exist,” the researchers wrote.It’s unclear whether or not any of the sharks at Kavachi have been harm by way of the outburst that brought about the plume within the symbol or in the event that they have been ready to sense the incoming eruption and evacuate the crater.The picture was once first launched in Might 2022 by way of NASA Goddard at the social media platform X at the side of the caption: “You’ve heard of sharknado, now get able for sharkcano.”Similar: See all of the highest pictures of Earth from area 
Kavachi’s maximum violent fresh eruption was once in October 2016 when a jet of volcanic particles was once ejected above the sea’s floor. (Symbol credit score: Alex DeCiccio/Wikimedia)The plume within the picture is a part of an eruption that started in October 2021 and lasted for only some weeks after the aerial symbol was once taken. Identical plumes passed off all through next eruptions in August 2023 and April 2024, in keeping with the International Volcanism Program on the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of Herbal Historical past.Get the sector’s most enticing discoveries delivered instantly for your inbox.Prior to then, the volcano’s most up-to-date main eruptions have been in 2016, 2014, 2007 and 2003. Previously, researchers additionally sighted ephemeral islands as much as half of 1 mile (1 km) huge being birthed by way of the eruptions after which sinking. A equivalent ghostly landmass lately emerged after an undersea volcano in Japan blew its best in 2023.Explosive plumesKavachi studies “phreatomagmatic eruptions,” which take place when magma meets water and ejects steam, ash, volcanic rock fragments and chunks of magma referred to as “incandescent bombs,” in keeping with the Earth Observatory.A find out about carried out within the wake of the 2007 eruption discovered that the volcanic plumes are fabricated from heat, acidic water that still incorporates particulate topic and sulfur, which “draws microbial communities that thrive on [the chemicals],” the researchers wrote.The volcano too can release jets of heated water with none visual plumes or different indicators of erupting.Citizens of neighboring islands have incessantly reported that they incessantly see steam and ash at the water’s floor between eruptions, additional confirming that the so-called sharkcano is percolating underneath the skin.
