Poster's note: check the image - looks pretty white to me. Would be interesting to see the geology of the volcano. If it's thin oceanic crust, drilling or blasting could conceivably trigger new eruptions (although that sounds a bit risky). Generally, the risk of abrasion to shipping would be a factor. Volcanic dust damages aircraft severely
A http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19207810 Vast volcanic 'raft' found in Pacific, near New Zealand A vast "raft" of volcanic rocks covering 10,000 sq miles (26,000 sq km) of ocean has been spotted by a New Zealand military aircraft. A naval ship was forced to change course in order to avoid the cluster of buoyant rocks, located 1,000 miles off the New Zealand coast. The unusual phenomenon was probably the result of pumice being released from an underwater volcano, experts said. One navy officer described it as the "weirdest thing" he had seen at sea. Lieutenant Tim Oscar told the AFP news agency: "As far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell. "The [top of the] rock looked to be sitting two feet above the surface of the waves and lit up a brilliant white colour. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf," the officer said. Researchers aboard the ship, HMNZS Canterbury, suggest that the source of the pumice was an underwater volcano (seamount) known as Monowai, located to the north of New Zealand. The pumice is likely to have been formed when lava from the seamount came into contact with seawater, and as it is less dense than water it quickly rises to the surface of the ocean. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
