The Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Maxlimer is part way through mapping the opening, or caldera, of the submarine Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai (HTHH) volcano in the South Pacific.
The boat was developed by British company Sea-Kit International and is part of the second phase of the Tonga Eruption Seabed Mapping Project (TESMaP), led by New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) and funded by the Nippon Foundation of Japan.
Data collected from the USV so far has confirmed earlier reports of continuing volcanic activity from HTHH. A winch on the boat allows instruments to be deployed at depths, reaching 300m, to collect data from the entire water column.
The boat is gradually building up an elevation map of the volcano’s opening, or caldera.
Image credit: SEA-KIT/NIWA...