Vanuatu - East Epi underwater volcano eruption

[Astronuc]

Vanuatu's East Epi underwater volcano erupted Wednesday [2 Feb, 2023], hurtling ash into the sky and leading authorities to warn ships and aircraft to avoid the area.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vanuatu-underwater-volcano-erupts-east-epi-warnings/

The volcano lies 68 kilometers north of the capital Port Vila.https://volcano.si.edu/showreport.cfm?wvar=GVP.WVAR20230125-257060

The Wellington VAAC reported that a low-level plume of ash and sulfur dioxide from a new eruption at Epi was identified in satellite data at 0730 on 31 January. According to the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD) residents saw steaming at the ocean’s surface in the area over the vents at around 0748, and phreatic explosions that ejected steam and tephra 100 m above the water. The Alert Level was raised to 1 (on a scale of 0-5) and the public was warned to stay 10 km away from the East Epi submarine volcano. Observers reportedly saw a growing cone from ongoing ash emissions. The VAAC noted that the eruption was short-lived and had ceased by 1548; the ash had dissipated.

Three submarine cones, Epi A, Epi B, and Epi C, and smaller cones and craters, are located 10-16 km NNE from the summit of Epi Island and are aligned along the N rim of an inferred caldera. Epi B is the shallowest of the seamounts and has been historically active, most recently in February 2004. A March 2004 bathymetric survey revealed that Epi B was about 300 m tall, with a diameter of about 1.8 km at the base. The summit crater was about 150 m in diameter and the crater floor was at a depth of 90 m. The highest point was on the NW rim of the summit crater, at a depth of 34 m.

 

[BillTre]

Its nice that mass is being added to Vanuatu in some way, since it is supposed to be strongly affected by raising sea levels.

 

[Baluncore]

The volcano lies 68 kilometers north of the capital Port Vila.

Make that 117 km, which is about 68 miles.

 

[BillTre]

How far below the water line? Didn't see that in the link.

 

[Astronuc]

Someone did a video of some of the eruption. The undersea volcano is to the east of Epi Island.A 6 mile (10 km) exclusion zone includes part of the east coast of Epi Island between Mate and Nul.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epi_(island)

 

[Astronuc]

How far below the water line? Didn't see that in the link.

Look at the second paragraph in the quote from the Smithsonian site.

Edit/update: Better - check Figures 1 and 5 on the Smithsonian page.
https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=257060

 

[BillTre]

The video mentioned about 30 meters down.
They also mentioned that any emergent islands would be expected to erode rapidly since they would be formed from ash, not solidified lava.
Maybe plant mangroves quickly.

 

[Astronuc]

The video mentioned about 30 meters down.

I believe the video refers to the top of the cone of Epi B, which is between Epi A (west of B) and Epi C (ESE of B).

https://volcano.si.edu/images/bulletin/257060/2904epi1.jpg