West Mata Underwater Volcano Eruption, 2009 (Clip 2)

Jason, the underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle), has made new striking discoveries in the Pacific ocean near Fiji. At 1200 meters (4000 feet) beneath the surface, it has captured the deepest underwater volcano eruption ever documented and you can see it in the video at the end of this post. Not only that, but the bononite lava from the West Mata volcano is also a very rare kind, found only in extinct volcanoes and believed to be some of the hottest on the planet.

Named after the mythical Greek adventurer, Jason is a two-body ROV system that can dive to great depths and be operated remotely by scientists on the deck of a ship. Medea, named after Jason’s wife, is its companion piece which sends power and commands from the ship, provides lightning and exposure to the ROV during explorations, and protects it from shocks and jolts.

The ROV, operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, is equipped with multiple accessories to help it scan and record the seafloor better, such as video and still cameras, water samplers and sonar images. The samples of rock and sediment it collects are sent up on a mini-elevator platform that reaches the ship. Jason is able to last a long time underwater, sometimes passing the 100 hour mark.

An earlier prototype of the ROV dubbed “Jason Jr.“ uncovered the famous RMS Titanic in 1986, which sparked a media frenzy and partly inspired the 1997 James Cameron film, the most commercially successful movie to date. Other grand findings include a 1 600 year-old Roman trading ship, and hundreds of operations in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Below is the video of its latest discovery, which shows the spectacular natural scenes one can see with the help of such robotics. The images you see are of huge clouds of volcanic ash rising from the bubbling lava, and chunks of debris spilling onto the cold seafloor.