Home Reef

Home Reef has built and lost at least four ephemeral volcanic islands since 1852, each emerging from the ocean during eruptions and eroding away within weeks to months.

The 1984 eruption produced a temporary island with cliffs reaching 30–50 m above sea level — taller than a 10-story building — enclosing a water-filled crater.

Pumice rafts from the 2006 eruption drifted over 3,000 km across the Pacific Ocean, eventually washing up on Australian beaches.

Home Reef's dacitic magma composition is unusually silica-rich for an oceanic volcanic arc, contributing to its explosive, island-building eruption style.

The Tonga Trench, located 150 km east of Home Reef, plunges to over 10,800 m — making the region home to both the deepest ocean trench and some of the most active submarine volcanoes on Earth.

Six of Home Reef's nine recorded eruptions have occurred in the 21st century (since 2006), indicating a substantial increase in activity.

Home Reef lies approximately 400 km north of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, whose January 2022 eruption was one of the most powerful volcanic explosions in recorded history.

Scientists have tracked pumice rafts from Home Reef via satellite to study how floating volcanic rock transports marine organisms between remote island ecosystems.

The Tonga-Kermadec subduction zone converges at approximately 24 cm/year — the fastest plate convergence rate on Earth — fueling the arc's prolific volcanic activity.

Home Reef's summit depth fluctuates with each eruption-erosion cycle; during quiescence it sits approximately 10 m below sea level, but it can emerge as high as 50 m above during major eruptions.