Via Wired:
The NASA Earth Observatory has been doing an excellent job tracking the spread of the pumice from the Havre eruption in the Kermadec Islands. Currently the pumice is spread over an area of 270,000 km2 / 100,000 sq. miles of the Pacific Ocean and is continuing to spread (see above). This pumice will likely stay afloat for months if not longer and eventually make landfall wherever the currents dictate – potentially as far off as South America. Pumice rafts are not particularly uncommon (see map below), especially in areas of abundant submarine volcanism like the southwestern Pacific Ocean, and they can be fascinating on levels even beyond the volcanology and petrology of the eruption itself. The pumice rafts are like islands that move around the oceans (without the problems of messing with the Orchid station), so you might expect that oceanic organisms will take advantage of their newly created pieces of real estate.
photo credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center via photo pin cc
