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On the fate of pumice rafts formed during the 2012 Havre submarine eruption
Citation
Jutzeler, M and Marsh, R and Carey, RJ and White, JDL and Talling, PJ and Karlstrom, L, On the fate of pumice rafts formed during the 2012 Havre submarine eruption, Nature Communications, 5 Article 3660. ISSN 2041-1723 (2014) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Licenced under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Abstract
Pumice rafts are floating mobile accumulations of low-density pumice clasts generated by
silicic volcanic eruptions. Pumice in rafts can drift for years, become waterlogged and sink, or
become stranded on shorelines. Here we show that the pumice raft formed by the impressive,
deep submarine eruption of the Havre caldera volcano (Southwest Pacific) in July 2012 can be
mapped by satellite imagery augmented by sailing crew observations. Far from coastal
interference, the eruption produced a single 4400 km2 raft in 1 day, thus initiating a gigantic,
high-precision, natural experiment relevant to both modern and prehistoric oceanic surface
dispersal dynamics. Observed raft dispersal can be accurately reproduced by simulating drift
and dispersal patterns using currents from an eddy-resolving ocean model hindcast. For
future eruptions that produce potentially hazardous pumice rafts, our technique allows real-time forecasts of dispersal routes, in addition to inference of ash/pumice deposit distribution in the deep ocean.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | volcanic eruption, submarine eruption, pumice raft, pumice |
| Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
| Research Group: | Oceanography |
| Research Field: | Physical Oceanography |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences |
| Author: | Jutzeler, M (Dr Martin Jutzeler) |
| Author: | Carey, RJ (Dr Rebecca Carey) |
| ID Code: | 90887 |
| Year Published: | 2014 |
| Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (DP110102196) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 21 |
| Deposited By: | Earth Sciences |
| Deposited On: | 2014-04-30 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-10-31 |
| Downloads: | 390 View Download Statistics |
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