A Giant Pumice Raft Floating in the Pacific Could Help Heal Australia's Great Barrier Reef https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/08/25/asia/pumice-stone-underwater-volcano-great-barrier-reef-intl/index.htmlA pumice "raft" the size of Manhattan is drifting towards Australia, bringing along with it new marine life that could help with the recovery of the Great Barrier Reef's corals, half of which have been killed in recent years as a result of climate change.The massive floating sheet of volcanic rock was first spotted by sailors on August 9, days after an underwater volcano is believed to have erupted near the Pacific Island of Tonga, according to NASA Earth Observatory
Days later, Australian sailors heading towards Vanatu on the ROAM catamaran said they encountered volcanic rocks "made up of pumice stones from marble to basketball size such that water was not visible."
"It was quite eerie, actually," Larissa said. "The whole ocean was matte -- we couldn't see the water reflection of the moon."
"The rocks were kind of closing in around us, so we couldn't see our trail or our wake at all. We could just see the edge where it went back to regular water -- shiny water -- at night," Michael added, saying they could see the rock from every direction.
"It was a bit of a mystery, we didn't know how deep it was, if we were sailing over a volcano that was active at that moment. It looked almost like there was more coming up, bubbling up from underneath," said Larissa.