Photos by Shane Egan

A continuing eruption from Tonga's active undersea volcano, Hunga Ha'apai, was clearly visible on the horizon northwest of Tongatapu today.

Photographed by Shane Egan from the Kanokupolu coastline, the plume of steam stood out clearly against today's blue sky.

“It's been puffing away like a steam train since Christmas Eve,” said Shane. “It's Tonga's own white Christmas.”

He said the eruption may have started earlier but it was hard to see against the heavy clouds on the horizon before Christmas.

No shakes

The eruption was first reported by a fisherman who came back from the area on December 19, according to the Deputy Secretary of Lands and Natural Resources, Taniela Kula, who filed a report to NEMO.

“A response has not been declared to the eruption on Hunga Ha'apai,” he said today. “We wrote a report but we found no correlations in the seismic data ...so we need more visual data.”

He said that the eruption would be producing material and they were returning to work to assess the situation. “We are supposed to provide a warning to aviation with Tonga Met.”

Hunga Ha'apai is located about 34 nautical miles (63 km) away from the capital, Nuku'alofa.

Previous eruption

In March 2009 the volcano erupted explosively and produced a small island the size of Fafa Island.

At the time Paul Taylor of the Australian Volcanological Investigations, who studies Tonga, warned people not to get too close to eruptions.

“To get too close when the volcano is still considered very active, is extremely unwise. Volcanoes are unpredictable as they may not give any warning signs that eruptive activity is going to occur. Furthermore, the landforms produced during explosive activity remain unstable for a long period and are very susceptible to collapse,” he said.

See previous eruption:

March 18, 2009: Underwater volcanic eruption close to Nuku'alofa [2]