Report on Home Reef (Tonga) — 19 October-25 October 2022
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 19 October-25 October 2022
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2022. Report on Home Reef (Tonga) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 19 October-25 October 2022. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Home Reef
Tonga
18.992°S, 174.775°W; summit elev. -10 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
The Tonga Geological Services reported that the eruption at Home Reef that began on 10 September was over. Satellite-based measurements showed that the island had not changed in size since 28 September, remaining at 268 m N-S, 283 m E-W, and 15-18 m high. A thermal anomaly was last observed on 17 October. On 22 October the Aviation Color Code was lowered to Green (the lowest level on a four-color scale) and the warning to mariners was lifted, though the public was prohibited from landing on the island.
Geological Summary. Home Reef, a submarine volcano midway between Metis Shoal and Late Island in the central Tonga islands, was first reported active in the mid-19th century, when an ephemeral island formed. An eruption in 1984 produced a 12-km-high eruption plume, large amounts of floating pumice, and an ephemeral 500 x 1,500 m island, with cliffs 30-50 m high that enclosed a water-filled crater. In 2006 an island-forming eruption produced widespread dacitic pumice rafts that drifted as far as Australia. Another island was built during a September-October 2022 eruption.
