{"id":434805,"date":"2026-05-19T09:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/434805\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:49:11","slug":"undersea-volcano-erupts-in-papua-new-guineas-bismarck-sea-prompting-tsunami-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/434805\/","title":{"rendered":"Undersea volcano erupts in Papua New Guinea’s Bismarck Sea prompting tsunami concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe eruption has been seen from space in recent days.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ NASA Worldview\n<\/p>\n

By Patrick Martin and Dana Kirimof, ABC<\/p>\n

A volcano is erupting under the ocean in the Bismarck Sea, prompting warnings of possible tsunamis from authorities as ash and smoke bellow into the sky.<\/p>\n

\"Kennedy<\/p>\n

\nKennedy Masis took in the spectacle from the fishing boat he was working on.
\nPhoto: ABC \/ Supplied\n<\/p>\n

Papua New Guinea authorities have warned of falling pumice, ash, unpredictable swells and turbulent currents in the area near the eruption of the provisionally-named Titan Ridge Volcano.<\/p>\n

Satellites have captured the event unfold from space, while seafarers in the area have seen it unfold.<\/p>\n

One fisherman, Kennedy Masis, was searching for tuna when he “saw smoke coming out of the sea”, he told the ABC.<\/p>\n

“Twelve years as a fisherman I’ve never seen anything like that \u2026 it’s scary.<\/p>\n

“It sounds like thunder and the sea smells like metal burning.”<\/p>\n

He said the next day he saw plenty of dead fish near the reef which was like a “boiling spring”.<\/p>\n

He warned other fishermen in the region to be cautious in the area as the eruption continued.<\/p>\n

Steve Saunders, the principal geodetic surveyor at the Rabaul Volcano Observatory, told ABC’s Pacific Beat localised tsunami activity was possible.<\/p>\n

“We could have some more intense explosive activity, in which case we may get just small tsunamis,” Saunders said.<\/p>\n

“That would cause just small tsunamis because it’s 100 kilometres at least to the nearest land.”<\/p>\n

He added that the ocean in the area is about 500 to 800 metres deep.<\/p>\n

\"Experts<\/p>\n

\nExperts were watching the eruption closely despite its remote location.
\nPhoto: ABC \/ Supplied\n<\/p>\n

He said that while undersea eruptions had happened before, this one was showing some unique characteristics.<\/p>\n

“What’s unusual about this is that it’s much more energetic, it looks as though … a cone is probably building underneath,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We are getting pumice actually reaching the surface … so it looks as though we may have a vent at, or very near the surface.”<\/p>\n

PNG’s Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) said that the volcano was active along a 5km stretch of ocean, but regular satellite monitoring had been hampered by cloud cover in recent days.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n

Photo: ABC News\n<\/p>\n

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake was recorded near the site on Monday.<\/p>\n

Before the eruption authorities recorded a number of quakes in the area, including six on May 8.<\/p>\n

Saunders said that any toxic fumes from the eruption were not blowing toward populated areas.<\/p>\n

– ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The eruption has been seen from space in recent days. Photo: Supplied \/ NASA Worldview By Patrick Martin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-434805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}