No thermal anomalies at Tinakula were detected by MODIS satellite systems between 9 May 2001 and 11 February 2006, but anomalies were then detected through mid-April 2006 (BGVN 31:03). Thermal anomalies continued at about the same pace and intensity (in pixels) through 1 June 2006 (table 2). From 4 August 2006 through March 2007, on 19 different days there were 1- or 2-pixel thermal anomalies measured by MODIS.

Table 2. MODIS/MODVOLC thermal anomalies at Tinakula for mid-April 2006 through mid-April 2007 (continued from table in BGVN 31:03). Courtesy of the University of Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) MODIS Hotspot Alert System.

According to a 1994 summary by the Solomon Island observatory (World Organization of Volcanic Observatories, 1997), "The last reported large eruption was in 1985. Tinakula is highly active [and] erupts andesitic ash almost every week." No recent field observations have been made by scientists.

Reference. World Organization of Volcanic Observatories (WOVO), 1997, Volcanoes of the Solomon Islands. 1. Tinakula, (section 0505-07), in Netter, C., and Cheminée, J-L. (eds.), Directory of Volcano Observatories, 1996-1997: WOVO/IAVCEI/UNESCO, Paris, 50 p.

Geological Summary. The small 3.5-km-wide island of Tinakula is the exposed summit of a massive stratovolcano at the NW end of the Santa Cruz islands. It has a breached summit crater that extends from the summit to below sea level. Landslides enlarged this scarp in 1965, creating an embayment on the NW coast. The Mendana cone is located on the SE side. The dominantly andesitic volcano has frequently been observed in eruption since the era of Spanish exploration began in 1595. In about 1840, an explosive eruption apparently produced pyroclastic flows that swept all sides of the island, killing its inhabitants. Recorded eruptions have frequently originated from a cone constructed within the large breached crater. These have left the upper flanks and the steep apron of lava flows and volcaniclastic debris within the breach unvegetated.

Information Contacts: Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, MODIS Thermal Alert System, School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology (SOEST), University of Hawai'i, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/); Solomon Island Observatory, Water and Mineral Resources Division, Honiara, Solomon Islands (URL: http://www.wovo.org/0505_07.htm).