New Island forms in Tonga (Updated)

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  • 
    ID: 14214 Produced Video

    How NASA Sees the Life Cycle of Volcanic Island Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai

    Sept. 20th, 2022
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Complete transcript available. || When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, it sent a tsunami racing around the world and set off a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. The underwater eruption in the South Pacific Ocean also blasted an enormous plume of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The sheer amount of water vapor could be enough to temporarily affect Earth’s global average temperature. So outside of its sheer magnitude, what makes this eruption so unique? Well, it’s really a matter of our ability to see it through NASA and ESA satellites. ||

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  • 
    ID: 4635 Visualization

    Visualizations of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai and the Martian Landscape

    June 15th, 2018
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    In early 2015, a volcanic eruption in the Kingdom of Tonga created a new island informally known as Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH). The subsequent evolution of the new island was previously described in "The Birth of a New Island" available here. Below are additional visualizations, including an updated view of the island's appearance in March 2018 as well as some visualizations of the martian surface. Results of this study can enhance our understanding of numerous small volcanic landforms on Mars whose formation may have been in shallow-water environments during epochs when persistent surface water was present.The complete visualization of "Using Earth to understand how water may have affected volcanoes on Mars" is available here.Learn more about the evolution of Earth'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 ||

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  • 
    ID: 12932 Produced Video

    Using Earth to Understand How Water May Have Affected Volcanoes on Mars

    June 8th, 2018
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    This scientific data visualization shows the evolution of the newly-erupted island in the Kingdom of Tonga. Results of this study can enhance our understanding of numerous small volcanic landforms on Mars whose formation may have been in shallow-water environments during epochs when persistent surface water was present.Learn more about the evolution of Earth's newest island and how it could reveal new infomration about the presence of water on Mars: Monitoring and Modeling the Rapid Evolution of EArth's Newest Volcanic Island: Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (Tonga) Using High Spatial Resolution Satellite Observations Authors: J.B. Garvin, D.A. Slayback, V. Ferrini, J. Frawley, C. Giguere, G.R. Asrar, K. AndersonPages: 3445-3452 l First Published: 26 March 2018- Volumetric erosion for new hydromagmatic island is approximately 0.0026km3/year- Demostrated first meter-scale documentation of landscapes and topography for a new volcanic island over its initial stages of evolution (approximately 3 years)- Satellite-based measurements of news island predict lifetime of up to approximately 42 years ||

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  • 
    ID: 12784 Produced Video

    Martian Clues on a Baby Island

    May 21st, 2018
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    A young volcanic island on Earth may hold clues to former islands on Mars. || 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 into the sky. When the ash finally settled in January 2015, a newborn island with a 400-foot summit nestled between two older islands – visible to satellites in space. The newly formed Tongan island, unofficially known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai after its neighbors, was initially projected to last a few months, washed away by the ocean. But to the surprise of NASA's science team tracking the evolution of the island using monthly, high-resolution satellites observations from the French space agency's Pléades-1A and DigitalGlobe's Worldview satellites, as well as the Canadian Space Agency's RadarSat-2 observations, the island has survived for more than three years. And, it shows a remarkable resemblance to volcanic formations on Mars. Understanding the processes that shape the Tongan island could provide insights into these Martian features which may have formed in in a similarly wet environment – locations ripe for looking for signs of past life. ||

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  • 
    ID: 12800 Produced Video

    The Birth of a New Island: Press Materials

    Dec. 11th, 2017
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Music: 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'apai after its neighbors, was initially projected to last a few months. Now it has a 6- to 30-year lease on life, according to a new NASA study. Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai is the first island of this type to erupt and persist in the modern satellite era, it gives scientists an unprecedented view from space of its early life and evolution. The new study offers insight into its longevity and the erosion that shapes new islands. Understanding these processes could also provide insights into similar features in other parts of the solar system, including Mars."Volcanic islands are some of the simplest landforms to make," said first author Jim Garvin, chief scientist of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Our interest is to calculate how much the 3D landscape changes over time, particularly its volume, which has only been measured a few times at other such islands. It's the first step to understand erosion rates and processes and to decipher why it has persisted longer than most people expected." The Tongan island is the third “surtseyan” volcanic island in the last 150 years to emerge and persist for more than a few months. Surtsey is an island that began forming during a similar kind of explosive, marine eruption off the coast of Iceland in 1963.From the Tongan island’s beginning, it was tracked by monthly, high-resolution satellite observations, both with optical sensors and radar, which sees through clouds. Alerted to the volcanic eruption by NASA's Rapid Response program for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments, Garvin and his colleagues directed satellites to observe the island as soon as the eruption ended. Using this imagery, the research team made three-dimensional maps of the island’s topography and studied its changing coastlines and volume above sea level. The team has calculated two potential scenarios affecting its lifetime. The first is a case of accelerated erosion by wave abrasion, which would destabilize the tuff cone in six to seven years, leaving only a land-bridge between the two adjacent older islands. The second scenario presumes a slower erosion rate, which leaves the tuff cone intact for about 25-30 years. ||

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    ID: 4920 Visualization

    Earth System Observatory

    Aug. 4th, 2021
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    An animated graphic showing the areas of focus for NASA's Earth System Observatory. || NASA's Earth System Observatory is a set of Earth-focused missions designed to provide key information to guide efforts related to climate change, disaster mitigation, fighting forest fires, and improving real-time agricultural processes. With the Earth System Observatory, each satellite will be uniquely designed to complement the others, working in tandem to create a 3D, holistic view of Earth, from bedrock to atmosphere.The observatory follows recommendations from the 2017 Earth Science Decadal Survey by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which lays out ambitious but critically necessary research and observation guidance.Areas of focus for the observatory include:Aerosols: Answering the critical question of how aerosols affect the global energy balance, a key source of uncertainty in predicting climate change.Cloud, Convection, and Precipitation: Tackling the largest sources of uncertainty in future projections of climate change, air quality forecasting, and prediction of severe weather.Mass Change: Providing drought assessment and forecasting, associated planning for water use for agriculture, as well as supporting natural hazard response.Surface Biology and Geology: Understanding climate changes that impact food and agriculture, habitation, and natural resources, by answering open questions about the fluxes of carbon, water, nutrients, and energy within and between ecosystems and the atmosphere, the ocean, and the Earth.Surface Deformation and Change: Quantifying models of sea-level and landscape change driven by climate change, hazard forecasts, and disaster impact assessments, including dynamics of earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, glaciers, groundwater, and Earth’s interior. ||

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  • 
    ID: 13301 Produced Video

    Photon Phriday

    Aug. 29th, 2019
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Photon Phriday is a weekly look at what ICESat-2 is measuring as it orbits the Earth. ICESat-2 Project Scientist Tom Neumann takes a look back at some recent passes in celebration of the first year on orbit for the mission. Follow @NASA_ICE for new Photon Phridays and results from NASA's ice-observing missions. || Photon Phrightday: Mount Terror, AntarcticaMusic: "The Body," Karl Casey @White Bat Audio, "Quantum Phantom," Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available. || Mt. RainierMusic: "Sea Mist," Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available. ||

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  • 
    ID: 4602 Visualization

    New island forms in Tonga

    Dec. 11th, 2017
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    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. || The evolution of the newly-erupted "surtseyan" island (~ 180 hectares in area) in the Kingdom of Tonga in the Southwestern Pacific is documented in a time-lapse sequences of perspective views using a time-series of DigitalGlobe WorldView images from just after the eruption ended in late January 2015 until late September 2017. These meter-resolution views were generated using Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) created by the NASA- led science team using stereo-pairs of DigitalGlobe Worldview images, and have allowed the erosional history of this unique island to be studied from a never-before-possible spaceborne perspective. The impact of marine abrasion on the somewhat fragile volcanic-ash landscapes is evident as the southern and southeastern margins of the new island, informally known as Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH), recede, while deposition of a widening isthmus grows to the northeast. 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). ||

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