On February 24, 2017, the ninth dive of the 2017 American Samoa Expedition: Suesuega o le Moana o Amerika Samoa expedition, we explored Vailulu'u seamount, an active volcano lying in the eastern region of the Samoan hotspot.
Prior to our dive, the last visual survey of the volcano had taken place in 2005, but the seamount had been mapped since. Comparison of multibeam data collected in 2012 with new bathymetric data collected during this 2017 expedition showed that the volcanic cone in the crater, called Nafanua, had grown substantially since the seamount was last mapped in 2012, having formed two distinct volcanic features.
The dive represented an exciting opportunity to observe a very dynamic environment both in terms of geology and biology. Much can be learned in terms of succession and how species colonize the seafloor over time from dives like this one.
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Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2017 American Samoa.
A Tantalizing Preview of Vailulu'u Seamount
Volcanic Islands and Seamounts in the Samoan Region