Pumice raft continues to be reported

Pumice raft continues to be reported

A flight between Auckland and Apia on Monday October 1 has reported floating pumice in the Kermadec Islands north-east of New Zealand. The GeoNet duty volcanologist received this from the MetService Aviation Forecaster as part of the routine exchange of volcano data and observations between the organisations and airline pilots.

The pumice started about 300 km west of Raoul Island and extended in a north-east direction for about 600 km (between 29°S 179°E and 24°S 177°W). In August the pumice raft was reported between 31.5°S 179°E and 28.5°S 179°W, being about 280 km long. Havre Seamount, which erupted July 18-19, produced the extensive pumice raft reported in August. It is most likely this pumice raft is the same one, just more spread out now. We have no direct evidence that Havre has erupted again.

We can also confirm that Monowai Seamount had not been active recently and Raoul Island has been quiet since its last eruption in 2006.

ENDS

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