This is the cronicle of the adventures on the yacht Maiken. I hope you all have a good time reading it, and maybe it will bring some new thoughts into your head.
All of the photographs are available on the blog run by the crew of the yacht "Maiken".
The email includes the following captions with the images:
This is not a beach, it is volcanic stones floating on the water.
The trail left by the yacht...
And then this was spotted... ash and steam rising from the ocean...
And, while they were watching...
A brand new island formed...
A plume of black ash...
Pretty wild, huh?
http://yacht-maiken.blogspot.com/2006/08/stone-sea-and-volcano.html
Yacht Maiken discovers floating sand & birth of an island
This is not a beach. It is volcanic stones floating on the water :
photo George Leslie
Environment News The
yacht Maiken comes across floating sand, birth of an island.
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 6 February, 2007 : - - Here's a wild
one for lovers of the ocean, absolutely amazing. August 2006, the yacht 'Maiken'
is travelling in the south Pacific when they came across a wild sight... It was
sand in the water, and floating ON TOP of the waves... Pretty wild, huh?
Coarse, floating stones : photo George
Leslie
The trail left by the yacht... : photo George
Leslie
And, while they were watching... a brand new island formed :
photo George Leslie
Commentary:
This email forward arrives with a
series
of photographs that depict a yacht's encounter with a large area of floating
volcanic stones and the apparent birth of a new volcanic island in the South
Pacific Ocean. Although the images are certainly unusual, they are genuine. Both
the phenomena of the floating stones and the newly formed volcanic island have
now been well documented by a variety of reliable sources including
NASA.
The images in the email were taken from a post on the blog
operated by Fredrik Fransson and the crew of the yacht 'Maiken'. In August 2006,
the Maiken was sailing in the South Pacific near Tonga when it came across a
large area of floating volcanic stones (pumice). When lava with a high gas and
water content erupts from a volcano and then cools it can produce pumice,
a very light rock material filled with gas bubbles. Pumice is the only kind of
rock that can float on water. A large mass of pumice floating on the ocean
surface is known as a "pumice raft".
The Maiken attempted
to sail into this massive pumice raft but was soon forced to turn back:
And then we
sailed into a vast, many miles wide, belt of densely packed pumice. We were
going by motor due to lack of wind and within seconds Maiken slowed down from
seven to one knot. We were so fascinated and busy taking pictures that we plowed
a couple of hundred meter into this surreal floating stone field before we
realized that we had to turn back. Just as we came out of the stone field and
entered reasonably normal water we noticed that there came no cooling water from
the engine.
Several
other vessels in the region at the time also observed large pumice
rafts.
The day after their encounter with the pumice raft, the Maiken
crew discovered the volcano
itself:
A couple of
hours ago we identified the active volcano as the one close to Home reef, and we
are on our way there now to take a closer look.
We are two miles from it and
we can see the volcano clearly. One mile in diameter and with four peaks and a
central crater smoking with steam and once in a while an outburst high in the
sky with lava and ashes.
I think were the first ones out here so perhaps we
could claim the island and name them(?)
The following
satellite image published by NASA's Earth
Observatory clearly shows a large pumice raft as well as the new
island:
Photo courtesy Jesse Allen NASA Earth
Observatory
Google Earth users can download a file showing
the new island via the Earth
Observatory website.
To view all of the photographs of the pumice
raft and new island that come with this email forward, and read more about the
Maiken's adventures, visit the Fredrik
and Crew on Maiken Blog.
References:
Fredrik
and Crew on Maiken: Stone sea and volcano
Mineral
Information Institute - PUMICE
Fredrik
and Crew on Maiken: Whales and volcanoes
Global
Volcanism Program | Volcanic Activity Reports
New
Island and Pumice Raft in the Tongas
New Volcanic Island
Reported in South Pacific Near Tonga
Geologist
hopes to visit newly emerged volcanic island near Tonga
Last updated:
16th December 2006
First published: 16th December 2006
Write-up by Brett M.Christensen
Floating
Volcanic Stones and New Island in the South Pacific
It was sand in the water, and
floating ON TOP of the waves...
Volcanic Stones on Water The email arrives with a series
of photographs.
...
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/new-pacific-island.shtml
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