'Sharkcano' volcano erupts near Solomon islands
Jun 6, 2022
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center took to twitter on 22 May to announce murky, discolored water churning around the Kavachi Volcano nestled within the archipelago of the Solomon Islands. The images captured on 14 May allow a good view of the most recent eruption of a heavily active underwater volcano. So what exactly makes this so special? It is all in the name. As NASA tweeted, "You’ve heard of sharknado, now get ready for sharkcano.
This area around east of Papua New Guinea in the Pacific is no stranger to the islands that temporarily form and disappear following underwater volcanic eruptions that sift silt, sand and mud. Volcanic eruptions form dark islands of lava before disappearing beneath the ocean waves. The volcano has been observed to have erupted at least eight times since 1938 -most recently in 2007 and 2014. So why the fuss with the name 'Sharkcano'?
It was back in 2015 when National Geographic researchers took the plunge below these waters to discover something astounding. According to a statement by NASA's Earth Observatory, a 2016 Oceanography paper titled, “Exploring the ‘Sharkcano’ went into further detail. "A 2015 scientific expedition to the volcano found two species of sharks, including hammerheads, living in the submerged crater. The researchers also found microbial communities that thrive on sulfur". The two species of sharks discovered included silky sharks and hammerheads.
The statement in NASA's Earth Observatory, also highlighted how unusual it is for sharks to have thrived in these conditions, "The presence of the sharks in the crater raised “new questions about the ecology of active submarine volcanoes and the extreme environments in which large marine animals can exist".
Mutated sharks in an active volcano site have fascinated people since the study was published. After the National Geographic video report on the expedition went viral in 2017, many joked online that we will soon see sharks flying several miles in the air if the volcano erupts. Ocean engineer Brennan Phillips explained what he saw down there. "Whether they're (the conditions are) good for sharks, that's up for debate. Yet we saw sharks that in between eruptions are darting in and out between the clouds of the plume. So that's a lingering question mark".
While it may be highly unlikely to see mutated sharks (and other microbes) fly into the sky and cause pandemonium, the mutations and adaptation of these marine creatures in the habitat are to be marveled at for certain.