Undersea volcano erupts in the Bismarck Sea near Papua New Guinea
A submarine eruption began on 8 May 2026 in the central Bismarck Sea, 130 kilometres south-east of Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. The eruption revealed a previously unmapped underwater volcano, now provisionally named Titan Ridge Volcano, in a remote and tectonically active area of the Pacific Ocean.
This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 22 May 2026, shows signs of the ongoing eruption. Darker blue tones mark deeper open sea, while brown tones indicate ash suspended on the water surface. Bright green colours indicate turbid waters caused by volcanic activity, while a plume appears above turquoise discoloured water.
The poor mapping of the region’s volcanic ridges makes Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite monitoring particularly valuable for tracking ongoing volcanic activity.
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