Is That 'Underwater Lightning'? Filmmaker Captures Explosive Awakening of a Rarely Seen Submarine Volcano
Wildlife filmmaker Devon Massyn (@devonmassyn) and his crew felt like they were "playing dodgeball against Mother Earth." One of Earth’s most active submarine volcanoes, Kavachi, was waking up, and as Massyn tooled around the waters, he could hear its thundering roar even from 50 miles away. Earth, it seemed, was giving birth to itself, displaying its wild, naked power at its most raw, as he described in his YouTube documentary. Massyn documented Kavachi’s awakening with drone cameras. Viewers who saw it were left wondering whether it was just a volcanic explosion or something else, too. 'Underwater lightning,' for instance.
Massyn had ventured out on an expedition in a remote region of the Solomon Islands. The Kavachi underwater volcano is nicknamed “Sharkcano.” Sitting in the heart of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the islands are sloshing with insanely acidic waters, patrolled by fiery schools of hammerhead and silky sharks. Kavachi has erupted dozens of times, but for the last couple of years, it has been dormant. In 2022, however, NASA’s satellites detected some movement. Kavachi was showing signs of waking up. Coincidentally, Massyn was travelling to the same region to monitor sharks, which was the initial goal. He was curious to see what was going on with the volcano, even though he had no idea whether he would find any sharks. Drums of fuel had to be loaded on the boat, because once they entered the islands, there was no easy way out.
Drones were flown as close to the volcano as they could to track the direction of sulfuric acid’s flow so they "wouldn’t get cooked alive" with an abrupt eruption. The fact that no one had been there in the last two years made them ruffle with nervous excitement. Then, they heard it, a few miles from the shore. Even before they saw it, its rumbling growl stunned their ears. The meandering surface spell suddenly turned more sinister than it had been, and in another moment, it exploded.
The waters broke, and a monstrous nebula of charcoal-colored smoke burst from its mouth. The billowing plume of volcanic gas rose and fell, rose again, and fell again. Like a giant monster flailing its arms and swimming, the plume continued to travel through the water, gradually settling and sputtering itself into a slushy, ashy layer that dangled on the surface, crackling with a shimmery lattice of what viewers thought looked like “underwater lightning.” Alongside steam explosions, the underwater volcano releases plumes of gas and ash. Two explosions occurred one after the other. Massyn confessed that this was "one of the craziest things he has ever experienced."
In a follow-up video, Massyn addressed whether it was actually "underwater lightning" and whether the footage was real or AI-generated, as some people queried. "This isn’t AI - It’s one of the most active underwater volcanoes on Earth," he said. The white electric flashes, he explained, were phreatomagmatic explosions, or steam explosions triggered by superheated magma coming in contact with seawater. “Water instantly vaporizes, expanding up to 1,700 times its size, like a bathtub of seawater exploding into an Olympic-sized swimming pool instantly. These violent steam blasts refract light, making it look like flashes beneath the surface,” he described.
Viewers, meanwhile, posted witty remarks on the video. “Underwater lighting, very, very frightening,” one wrote on Instagram. Many were reminded of SpongeBob SquarePants. "Bikini bottom is under siege," another wrote. "This is peak connection with nature. Terrifying & fascinating," a third wrote.
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