Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have been monitoring the volcanic pumice that has been reported around the Okinawa coastline since mid-October, clogging up ports and boat engines, and impacting the fishing, transport, and tourism industries. The source of the pumice is a submarine volcano, located in the Ogasawara island chain (also known as the Bonin Islands), which erupted on August 13th, 2021. The researchers say that their work may uncover clues as to how long the pumice will remain around Okinawa and sheds light on the dynamics of pumice rafts in the ocean more broadly.

Prof. Faculty Member, who leads the Marine Biophysics Unit, related the movement of the pumice to an experiment he conducted between 2012 and 2017 when he released GPS-tagged drifting buoys into the ocean around Okinawa. The buoys mainly moved in small circles, called ocean eddies, but they weren’t strongly influenced by a passing typhoon.

Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have been monitoring the volcanic pumice that has been reported around the Okinawa coastline since mid-October, clogging up ports and boat engines, and impacting the fishing, transport, and tourism industries. The source of the pumice is a submarine volcano, located in the Ogasawara island chain (also known as the Bonin Islands), which erupted on August 13th, 2021. The researchers say that their work may uncover clues as to how long the pumice will remain around Okinawa and sheds light on the dynamics of pumice rafts in the ocean more broadly.

Prof. Faculty Member, who leads the Marine Biophysics Unit, related the movement of the pumice to an experiment he conducted between 2012 and 2017 when he released GPS-tagged drifting buoys into the ocean around Okinawa. The buoys mainly moved in small circles, called ocean eddies, but they weren’t strongly influenced by a passing typhoon.

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