A NASA satellite captured the moment a huge underwater volcano erupted in the depths of the Pacific Ocean and the result is something straight from an underwater Left Behind movie.
The Kavachi volcano, located in the Solomon Islands, is well-known to researchers who began studying the underwater volcano in 2015. Scientists found that fish and sharks inhabit the super-heated sulfer-infused acidic waters surrounding the volcano.
The water is contaminated with rock fragments that scientists believe has “mutated” the sharks to help them cope with the extreme conditions. Scientists have nicknamed Kavachi “Sharkcano” due to the animals living in its harsh conditions.
“Populations of gelatinous animals, small fish and sharks were observed inside the active crater, raising new questions about the ecology of active submarine volcanoes and the extreme environments in which large marine animals can exist,” the scientists wrote in 2015.
Over the last seven years, scientists have been researching the aquatic creatures living around and inside the underwater volcano, which stretches down nearly .75 miles to the ocean floor. You can see a video of the volcano’s inhabitants in a video posted by The Oceanography Society.
The recent eruption was captured by NASA using the Operational Land Imager – a powerful scanning telescope aboard the orbiting Landsat 8 satellite. NASA’s image shows a large plume of discolored water emerging from the volcano. The eruption lasted several days in April and May 2022.
🦈 You’ve heard of sharknado, now get ready for sharkcano.
The Kavachi Volcano in the Solomon Islands is home to two species of sharks. It’s also one of the most active submarine volcanoes in the Pacific, seen here erupting underwater by #Landsat 9.https://t.co/OoQU5hGWXQ pic.twitter.com/vEdRypzlgi
— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) May 22, 2022
“The volcano erupts nearly continuously, and residents of nearby inhabited islands often report visible steam and ash,” NASA reported.
The nearby island is named for a sea god of the Gatokae and Vangunu peoples, sometimes referred to as Rejo te Kvachi, or “Kavachi’s Oven.”
