Watch: An Underwater Volcano Turned Japan’s Coastline Into Waves of Pumice
Months after an undersea volcano erupted on August 12, 2021, huge amounts of pumice have appeared around Japan’s southernmost coastlines.
The active Fukutoku-okanoba submarine volcano is located about 80 feet under the surface of the Pacific Ocean and 621 miles south of Tokyo. One of NASA’s satellites captured an image of the unusually large huge plume of gas and steam that extended 11 miles up into the air. Several Philippines Airlines flights were cancelled to keep ash from damaging the aircrafts’ jet engines. It was an impressive feat of nature and a little disruptive.
But the story of Fukutoku-okanoba doesn’t stop there.
Photo: Earth Observatory NASA
On August 17, another satellite image showed vast rafts of pumice floating around the caldera of the volcano. And they kept floating until, in late October, they showed up on Japan’s coastlines.
近くで見ると、なかなか衝撃的。改めて、歴史的なできごとだと思う。この先、何百年だっても「昔、与論の海が軽石だらけになったことがあるんだって」って語り継がれてほしい。「昔、与論の砂浜は真っ白だったんだって」にならないことを願う。
「軽石を分析する会」とかやってほしいな… pic.twitter.com/996DuhaMYv
— 箱山康子 | ライター・校正者 (@yasukonotes) October 23, 2021
According to the Global Volcanism Program, the pumice arrived first at Kitadaito Island on October 8 and later made its way to the Okinawa Prefecture, as well as several ports in the Kagoshima prefecture on the southern part of island of Kyushu.
Pumice is a very porous rock that’s formed during explosive volcanic eruptions. Pumice floats on water, and according to NASA’s Earth Observatory, “Rafts of the rock can drift in the ocean for months or even years.”
The tons of floating pumice from Fukutoku-okanoba has wrecked havoc every where it’s drifted. It’s clogged harbors and beaches, killed marine wildlife, damaged boats and engines, and severely disrupted the fishing industry, The Guardian reports.
Photos taken by Síle Nic Chormaic, an Irish Physicist living in Japan, show the extent of the pumice invasion.
Pumice on #Okinawa #volcanoes #Japan pic.twitter.com/fcLjhGbacV
— Prof. Síle Nic Chormaic (PhD) (@SileNicChormaic) October 30, 2021
Chormaic also captured a video of her running her hand through the unbelievably thick layer of pumice in the water.
Pumice on #Okinawa pic.twitter.com/aBvkNRJGhs
— Prof. Síle Nic Chormaic (PhD) (@SileNicChormaic) October 30, 2021
Local authorities have started clearing the tens of tons of pumice with diggers. The clean-up operation is expected to take weeks.