Monitoring and Modeling the Rapid Evolution of Earth's Newest Volcanic Island: Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (Tonga) Using High Spatial Resolution

We have monitored a newly erupted volcanic island in the Kingdom of Tonga, unofficially known as Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai, by means of relatively frequent high spatial resolution (similar to 50 cm) satellite observations. The new similar to 1.8 km(2) island formed as a tuff cone over the course of a month-long hydromagmatic eruption in early 2015 in the Tonga-Kermadec volcanic arc. Such ash-dominated eruptions usually produce fragile subaerial landscapes that wash away rapidly due to marine erosion, as occurred nearby in 2009. Our measured rates of erosion are similar to 0.00256 km(3)/year from derived digital topographic models. Preliminary measurements of the topographic expression of the primary tuff cone over similar to 30 months suggest a lifetime of similar to 19 years (and potentially up to 42 years). The ability to measure details of a young island's landscape evolution using satellite remote sensing has not previously been possible at these spatial and temporal resolutions.