Volcano creates large new Tongan island

by AFP on 17 Jan 2015 A newly awakened volcano off an uninhabited Tongan island has finally been viewed up close, with volcanologists saying it has created a substantial new island since it began erupting last month.

Tonga's lands and natural resources ministry said experts took a boat trip to view the eruption on Thursday and confirmed it had transformed the local landscape.

'The new island is more than one kilometre wide, two kilometres long and about 100 metres high,' it said in a statement.

The volcano, about 65 kilometres south-west of the main island of Tongatapu and the nation's capital, Nuku'alofa, rumbled to life on December 20 for the first time in five years.

The ministry said the volcano was erupting from two vents, one on the uninhabited island of Hunga Ha'apai and the other underwater about 100 metres offshore.

'During our observations the volcano was erupting about every five minutes to a height of about 400 metres, accompanied by some large rocks,' the ministry said.

'The ash is very wet, most is being deposited close to the vent, building up the new island.'

The ministry said ash and acidic rain was deluging an area 10 kilometres around the volcano.

'Leaves on trees on Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai have died, probably caused by volcanic ash and gases.'

A number of international flights were cancelled earlier this week amid concerns about the volcano's ash plume, which had reached 30,000 feet, but they resumed on Wednesday as the explosive eruptions of ash died down.

Tonga lies on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activity.