Exploding lakes in Vanuatu - Surtseyan-style eruptions witnessed on Ambae Island

After a long silence, Lake Vui on Ambae Island burst into spectacular life on November 28, 2005, disrupting the lives of the 10,000 inhabitants on this sleepy tropical island in the SW Pacific. Surtseyan-style explosions burst through the Island's summit lake waters, forming a new tuff-cone, and threatening to form deadly lahars or volcanic floods. Such eruptions are rarely well observed, and these fleeting opportunities provide a chance to match volcanic processes with rock-sequences common in the geologic record...