Monday 15 February 2016

Watch: Sharks Found Inside An Active Volcano… Alive


Kavachi is one of the most active underwater volcanoes in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It's surrounded by hot, acidic seawater that can make it too dangerous for human divers — and that's when it's not erupting explosively.

But when a team of scientists recently sent down camera-equipped robots, they not only found animals surviving in and around the volcano; they found a surprising amount of biodiversity, including silky sharks, hammerhead sharks and the rarely seen Pacific sleeper shark, which had previously been caught on video just twice.

The sharkcano is located south of Vangunu in the Solomon Islands, where researchers funded by the National Geographic Society recently embarked on a risky trip to explore Kavachi. The volcano is very active, having experienced a minor eruption in 2014 as well as more explosive outbursts in 2007 and 2004.

"Nobody actually knows how often Kavachi erupts," team member Brennan Phillips tells National Geographic. And even when it's not launching lava, ash and steam above the surface, he adds, it can be too extreme for divers to explore. "Divers who have gotten close to the outer edge of the volcano have had to back away because of how hot it is or because they were getting mild skin burns from the acid water."



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