Birth of New Islands in the southern Red Sea

Two Surtseyan eruptions occurred within Zubair archipelago in 2012-11 and 2013, about 50 km southeast from Jebel at Tair Island. Both eruptions started on the sea floor and resulted in a formation of new islands. We study the 2011-12 & 2013 Jebel Zubair volcanic eruptions with high-resolution radar and optical satellite remote sensing, as no geophysical instruments are installed on the islands and almost no direct observations were made of the activity. The former eruption started on 18 December 2011 in the northern part of the archipelago and lasted for about a month, generating a small 0.25 km2 oval-shaped island. Coastal erosion during the first two years following the end of the eruption has reduced the size of the island to 0.19 km2. The latter event occurred in the central part of Zubair islands and lasted roughly two months (28 September - 20 November, 2013), forming a larger 0.68 km2 island. We combine TanDEM-X data from ascending and descending orbits to make a high-resolution DEM of the new northern island and use three-pass differential radar interferometry (InSAR) to map the ground deformation associated with the 2011-12 eruption.