Ongoing Dispersal of the 7 August 2019 Pumice Raft From the Tonga Arc in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean

Martin Jutzeler; Robert Marsh; Erik van Sebille; Tushar Mittal; Rebecca J. Carey; Kristen E. Fauria; Michael Manga; Jocelyn McPhie

doi:10.1029/2019GL086768

Ongoing Dispersal of the 7 August 2019 Pumice Raft From the Tonga Arc in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean

Martin Jutzeler^*, Robert Marsh, Erik van Sebille, Tushar Mittal, Rebecca J. Carey, Kristen E. Fauria, Michael Manga, Jocelyn McPhie

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

On the 7 August 2019, a 195 km² raft of andesitic pumice was produced at 200 m below sea level at an unnamed submarine volcano in the Tonga Islands (Southwest Pacific Ocean). Drifting chiefly westward, the raft reached the Fiji Islands on the 19 September. Yachts that crossed the raft as early as 2 days post-eruption provided an outstanding data set of raft characteristics and pristine samples. Further, exceptional tracking of raft dispersal by satellite images allows us to contrast virtual particle tracking methods with ocean model currents to explore the relative influence of surface currents, wind, and wave action on pumice flotsam dispersal over up to 2 years. Attenuation of ocean waves by large and compact pumice rafts appears to reduce the effect of Stokes drift. The coupling of real-time satellite observations with oceanographic Lagrangian simulations allows near-real time forecasting for global maritime hazard mitigation.

Original language	English
Article number	e1701121
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	47
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086768
Publication status	Published - 16 Mar 2020

Funding

We thank the Rescue and Co-Operation Centre New Zealand, the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji, and Greg Just (Vava'u) for dissemination of our hazard maps and enabling communication with yacht crews. We are grateful to yacht crews for samples and information; we are quite envious of their extraordinary experience: Rachel (MY Olive), Patricia and Silvio (SV Barbarossa), Michael and Larissa (SY Roam), Shannon and Tom (SV Finely Finished), Jim (SV Bright Moments), Diego and crew (SY Arka), and Kostya (SV Ponyo). We thank N. Kumar for sampling on Viti Levu and organizing sample postage and F. Ikegami for support with QGIS. We acknowledge funding for M.M. and T.M. from NSF grant EAR#1615203. We thank two anonymous reviewers?and E. Klemetti for their comments. The Parcels/CMEMS simulations were performed on the Dutch national e-infrastructure with support of SURF Cooperative (project-16371). The code for the Parcels simulations is available online (https://github.com/OceanParcels/PumiceEvent). This paper uses data from: http://marine.copernicus.eu/services-portfolio/access-to-products/?option=com_csw&view=details&product_id=GLOBAL_ANALYSIS_FORECAST_PHY_001_024; http://marine.copernicus.eu/services-portfolio/access-to-products/?option=com_csw&view=details&product_id=GLOBAL_ANALYSIS_FORECAST_WAV_001_027; http://marine.copernicus.eu/services-portfolio/access-to-products/?option=com_csw&view=details&product_id=WIND_GLO_WIND_L4_NRT_OBSERVATIONS_012_004. Interested users can access our data through contacting MJ.

Keywords

Eruption
Hazard
Oceanographic model
Pumice raft
Submarine volcanism
Tonga

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title = "Ongoing Dispersal of the 7 August 2019 Pumice Raft From the Tonga Arc in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean",

abstract = "On the 7 August 2019, a 195 km2 raft of andesitic pumice was produced at 200 m below sea level at an unnamed submarine volcano in the Tonga Islands (Southwest Pacific Ocean). Drifting chiefly westward, the raft reached the Fiji Islands on the 19 September. Yachts that crossed the raft as early as 2 days post-eruption provided an outstanding data set of raft characteristics and pristine samples. Further, exceptional tracking of raft dispersal by satellite images allows us to contrast virtual particle tracking methods with ocean model currents to explore the relative influence of surface currents, wind, and wave action on pumice flotsam dispersal over up to 2 years. Attenuation of ocean waves by large and compact pumice rafts appears to reduce the effect of Stokes drift. The coupling of real-time satellite observations with oceanographic Lagrangian simulations allows near-real time forecasting for global maritime hazard mitigation.",

keywords = "Eruption, Hazard, Oceanographic model, Pumice raft, Submarine volcanism, Tonga",

author = "Martin Jutzeler and Robert Marsh and {van Sebille}, Erik and Tushar Mittal and Carey, {Rebecca J.} and Fauria, {Kristen E.} and Michael Manga and Jocelyn McPhie",

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AU - Marsh, Robert

AU - van Sebille, Erik

AU - Mittal, Tushar

AU - Carey, Rebecca J.

AU - Fauria, Kristen E.

AU - Manga, Michael

AU - McPhie, Jocelyn

PY - 2020/3/16

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AB - On the 7 August 2019, a 195 km2 raft of andesitic pumice was produced at 200 m below sea level at an unnamed submarine volcano in the Tonga Islands (Southwest Pacific Ocean). Drifting chiefly westward, the raft reached the Fiji Islands on the 19 September. Yachts that crossed the raft as early as 2 days post-eruption provided an outstanding data set of raft characteristics and pristine samples. Further, exceptional tracking of raft dispersal by satellite images allows us to contrast virtual particle tracking methods with ocean model currents to explore the relative influence of surface currents, wind, and wave action on pumice flotsam dispersal over up to 2 years. Attenuation of ocean waves by large and compact pumice rafts appears to reduce the effect of Stokes drift. The coupling of real-time satellite observations with oceanographic Lagrangian simulations allows near-real time forecasting for global maritime hazard mitigation.

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KW - Hazard

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Ongoing Dispersal of the 7 August 2019 Pumice Raft From the Tonga Arc in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean

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Keywords

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