Vailulu‘s Seamount

[ Bathymetry | Backscatter | Optical Validation | Geomorphology ]

Vailulu‘u Seamount situated approximately 50 km to the east of Ta’u is an extremely active and well-studied volcano. It was first discovered in 1975, but it wasn’t mapped in detail until 1999 when it was found to reach 5000 m deep and summit at 600 m deep. Following a pattern characteristic of active volcanoes, the caldera has built up and collapsed repeatedly. The bottom of the caldera had settled to about 1000 m deep when it was revisited in 2001. By 2005 a new cone had built up to a depth of 708 m, an dby 2006 Vailulu‘u had reached a new minimum depth of 580 m. Nine submersible surveys were also conducted in Vailulu‘u’s caldera in 2005, making new discoveries around the active seamount.

Visit the NOAA Ocean Explorer page for the March – July 2005 expedition to Vaiulu‘u Seamount.

Click thumbnail maps below to explore PIBHMC’s data sets.