Science

Underwater ‘Sharkcano’ Eruption Spotted by NASA Satellite

STAY OUT OF THE WATER

The submarine volcano is home to two extremely hardy species of shark.

Kavachi_nk8nne
NASA Earth Observatory

Reality really is stranger than fiction: Hollywood gave us the ‘Sharknado,’ but nature gave us the ‘Sharkcano.’ The shark-infested underwater volcano which really is a thing has been pictured erupting by a satellite. NASA’s Earth Observatory has released images of the aquatic hellmouth spewing out a column of ash beneath the surface of the waves. The Kavachi volcano, located around 15 miles off Vangunu in the Solomon Islands, is among the most active submarine volcanoes in the Pacific, according to NASA. But it’s even more notorious as the home of two species of shark (as if lava wasn’t bad enough). A 2015 expedition discovered the scalloped hammerhead and the silky shark among the marine life lurking in the volcano’s broiling depths—earning Kavachi the not at all terrifying moniker ‘Sharkcano.’ NASA says Kavachi erupts almost continuously and steam is often visible around the site.

Read it at CNN