A newer version of this visualization is available
New island forms in Tonga
- Visualizations by:
- Cindy Starr
- View full credits
This visualization shows the change in the island of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apa between January 2015 and September 2017.
This video is also available on our YouTube channel.
Research results from NASA-funded science team led by James B. Garvin (NASA GSFC), Daniel A. Slayback (SSAI), Vicki Ferrini (Columbia) recently submitted for publication in the AGU's Geophysical Research Letters journal suggest the island's lifetime may be extended for another 25-30 years if geochemical fortification continues to protect key regions. The HTHH island is the first surtseyan eruption-based island to have persisted as "new land" for more than 6 months since Surtsey erupted near Iceland in 1963. Studies of the landscape evolution of pristine volcanic islands of this variety previously relied on a combination of aerial photography, field mapping, and laboratory sample analysis, but this new work enables an optimized approach via advanced satellite optical and radar imaging in combination with ship-based bathymetric mapping. Results of this work can be applied to understanding numerous small volcanic landforms on Mars whose formation may have been in shallow-water environments during epochs when persistent surface water was present.
Field photography and sampling of the HTHH island "system" by French sailors who served as citizen geoscientists for the NASA project greatly enhanced the project and validated several key interpretations.
(Special thanks to NASA Earth Sciences RRNES program, French sailors Damien Grouille and Cecile Sabau of the sailing vessel Colibri, and to the Schmidt Ocean Institute R/V Falkor).
This movie begins with the visualization above and concludes showing video footage and photographs taken by Damiaen Grouille and Cecile Sabau on June 4th and 5th, 2017.
This video is also available on our YouTube channel.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Research was largely supported by:
NASA Earth Science Division RRNES Program
(℅ Drs. Jack Kaye and Gerald Bawden)
and the Schmidt Ocean Institute
Visualizer
- Cindy Starr (GST) [Lead]
Scientists
- Daniel A. Slayback (SSAI)
- James Garvin (NASA, Chief Scientist Goddard)
- Vicki Ferrini (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University)
Producers
- Ellen T. Gray (NASA/HQ)
- LK Ward (KBRwyle)
- Samson K. Reiny (Wyle Information Systems)
Project support
- Eric Sokolowsky (GST)
- Joycelyn Thomson Jones (NASA/GSFC)
- Leann Johnson (GST)
Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET)
Citizen scientists
- Cecile Sabau (None)
- Damien Grouille (None)
Papers
This visualization is based on the following papers:- https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2017GL076621
Datasets used in this visualization
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) HiRISE (Collected with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) sensor)
Pléiades-1A © 2015 CNES, Distribution Airbus DS
WorldView-2 © 2010 DigitalGlobe
WorldView-2 © 2015 DigitalGlobe
WorldView-2 © 2016 DigitalGlobe
WorldView-2 © 2017 DigitalGlobe
WorldView-3 © 2015 DigitalGlobe
WorldView-3 © 2016 DigitalGlobe
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Related pages
Visualizations of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai and the Martian Landscape
June 15, 2018, 7 a.m.
Read moreThis visualization shows the two original islands in Tonga, Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha s newest island and how it could reveal new information about the presence of water on Mars: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2017GL076621 || This visualization portrays a slow flyover of the Martian landscape.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. || This visualization is similar to the one above except that artificial water has been added to show how water may have eroded landforms on Mars during epochs when persistent surface water was present.Coming soon to our YouTube channel. || This visualization shows the location of the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific.
Martian Clues on a Baby Island
May 21, 2018, 8 a.m.
Read moreA young volcanic island on Earth may hold clues to former islands on Mars. || Learn how a new Tongan island may hold clues to similar volcanic formations on Mars. || Watch the evolution of the new island over the first three years of its life. || The Tongan island has a round shape in the first clear satellite image after it formed, taken January 19, 2015. || Digital elevation map made from satellite data shows the island on April 21, 2015. || Digital elevation map made from satellite data shows the island on September 19, 2017. || This digital elevation map of a Mars volcano has similarities to the Tongan island that suggest similar processes may have shaped it. || The Tongan island has a crater lake at its center. || The composition of the tephra cliffs that make up the core of the island may explain how the island resists erosion.
New Island forms in Tonga (Updated)
March 26, 2019, 8 p.m.
Read moreThis visualization shows the evolution Tonga apa on March 20,2018 as created from Digital Globe satellite imagery.
SVS Demo Reel
July 25, 2019, 11 a.m.
Read moreThis is the SVS Demo Reel presented at SIGGRAPH 2019 in Los Angeles, CA.
The Birth of a New Island: Press Materials
Dec. 11, 2017, 11 a.m.
Read moreMusic: Fountain by Mailcoat Sheppard; Data Visions by Pike; Guilty Curiosity by Brice Davoli; Concerning Nymphs by Hammond Roberts. Complete transcript available. || In late December 2014, a submarine volcano in the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga erupted, sending a violent stream of steam, ash and rock into the air. The ash plumes rose as high as 30,000 feet (9 kilometers) into the sky, diverting flights. When the ash finally settled in January 2015, a newborn island with a 400-foot (120-meter) summit nestled between two older islands – visible to satellites in space. The newly formed Tongan island, unofficially known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha s topography in detail that complements the optical sensors, Nov. 24, 2017.Credit: ©MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates LTD. (2017) || Digital elevation model derived from stereo views of a Martian volcano from the HiRISE instrument aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.Credit: NASA/JPL/U. Arizona || High-resolution satellite image of the Tongan island right after it formed, Jan. 19, 2015.Credit: Pleiades-1A ©2015 CNES Distribution Airbus DS || Digital elevation model derived from stereo satellite images shows the topography of Surtsey, Iceland, formed in 1963 (left) and the new Tongan island (right). Credit: NASA || Tephra surface of the Tongan island, June 4-5, 2017.Credit: NASA/Damien Grouille/Cecile Sabau || View of crater lake from the summit rim, June 4-5, 2017.Credit: NASA/Damien Grouille/Cecile Sabau || Tephra cliffs compose the interior crater wall, June 4-5, 2017.Credit: NASA/Damien Grouille/Cecile Sabau || Tephra cliffs compose the interior crater wall, June 4-5, 2017.Credit: NASA/Damien Grouille/Cecile Sabau || Tephra surface of the Tongan island, June 4-5, 2017.Credit: NASA/Damien Grouille/Cecile Sabau || View of crater lake from the summit rim, June 4-5, 2017.Credit: NASA/Damien Grouille/Cecile Sabau || View of crater lake from the summit rim, June 4-5, 2017.Credit: NASA/Damien Grouille/Cecile Sabau || Sediment from the eroded cliffs form a beach around the crater lake, June 4-5, 2017.Credit: NASA/Damien Grouille/Cecile Sabau || Tephra cliffs compose the interior crater wall. A sandbar on the southern side of the island walls off the crater lake from the ocean, June 4-5, 2017.Credit: NASA/Damien Grouille/Cecile Sabau || Digital elevation model derived from stereo satellite images shows the topography of the new island. Left: Apr. 21, 2015. Right: Sept. 19, 2017.Credit: NASA || High-resolution satellite image of the Tongan island at 31 months Sept. 19, 2017.Credit: ©2017 DigitalGlobe