Researchers have reported in Nature Geoscience that a barely submerged volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands released giant bubbles of gas 2 years ago. Some of them were broader than the 310-meter-wide National Stadium in Singapore, the world’s largest human made dome.
The Bogoslof bubbles have reached up to 440 meters in diameter. They formed when lava hit seawater and cooled down. The lava ended up creating a cap over the volcano’s vent. The cap was pushed outward by the bubble of volcanic water vapour, and gases like carbon dioxide, and sulphur dioxide. This happened until the condensing film of volcanic rock and liquid water collapsed to produce an eruptive trail.
The volcano known as Bogoslof opens only 100 meters below sea level. It has remnants of past eruptions forming a steaming lagoon at the ocean’s surface. Historically passing ships have reported that at Bogoslof and other similar submarine volcanoes, before an explosive erupts, a giant, black dome emerges out of the ocean. It is not possible to determine if this is true and how it really looks as it is a dangerous place to carry out research.
The exploding bubbles have not been understood properly as they make studying the volcanoes hazardous. It is impossible to go nearer to them till now. Thus researchers have been spying on the Bogoslof from afar. They have been using low-frequency microphones in the ocean 59 kilometres to the south and have found that the volcano has erupted more than 70 times over 9 months.