Summit depth −10 m (−33 ft) Type Seamount Elevation -2 m | Country Tonga Last eruption August 2006 | |
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Location between Metis Shoal and Late Island, Tonga Similar Metis Shoal, Fonualei, Kao, Adams Seamount, Ahyi | ||
Home Reef is an ephemeral island built by a submarine volcano whose top has repeatedly broken the surface and afterwards was eroded away by wave action. It is in the South Pacific, south of Late Island and southwest of Vava'u along the Tofua volcanic arc in Tonga.
Map of Home Reef, Tonga
Home Reef temporarily rose above sea level in island-building eruptions in 1852, 1857, 1984, and 2006.
After a volcanic eruption started on 8 August 2006, Home Reef emerged as an island; that eruption also spewed into Tongan waters large amounts of floating pumice, which swept across to Fiji about 350 km (220 mi) to the west of the new island. In October 2006 it reached almost the same size as it did in 1984 when it was about 0.5 km × 1.5 km (0.3 by 0.9 miles). The island was first seen by the crew of a yacht, who recorded its emergence in their blog. The eruptions produced extensive rafts of pumice, which drifted northeast from the new island. The pumice rafts and new island were imaged by the Aqua satellite in August 2006. Images also revealed several small hot crater lakes on the newly formed island.