Home Reef, which is part of the Tonga Volcanic Arc, is the youngest volcanic island on Earth. Dr. Simon Plank, our habilitation candidate and guest lecturer from DLR, has been monitoring the evolution of Home Reef since the island emerged above sea level in September 2022. Since Christmas 2025, renewed volcanic activity has caused the island to grow by nearly 8 hectares. Dr. Plank was interviewed by NASA Earth Observatory about these latest activities on Home Reef: https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/home-reef-adds-on/
For further reading on Home Reef, we refer to: https://remote-sensing.org/new-publication-on-the-evolution-of-newly-born-volcanic-islands/
