In October, the USCG icebreaker Healy departed the Port of Nome for the Arctic Ocean with a NOAA survey team aboard. Their voyage would yield a surprising discovery.
Toward the end of its deployment, the Healy’s sonar systems lit up in a certain part of the Chukchi Sea. With the crew’s curiosity piqued, the vessel stopped to examine more closely. The anomaly turned out to be a mountain rising roughly 1,600 feet above the ocean floor, about the height of three Washington Monuments. Furthermore, they detected a gas plume rising from the mountain. In short, this may be the largest undersea volcano ever discovered.
Interestingly, this discovery nearly never happened. The survey team was originally scheduled to embark on NOAA’s own vessel Fairweather, but ultimately set sail on the Healy due to mechanical issues with the Fairweather. The team only found the volcano thanks to the Healy’s more advanced sonar systems.
The volcano they discovered sits deep enough in the ocean that it poses no danger to navigation.
