"A spectacular underwater volcanic eruption spewing smoke
and gas thousands of feet into the sky has created a new
island in the Pacific Ocean."

"The volcano began erupting on Monday and ejected so much
lava that by Wednesday it had formed the island about seven
miles off the coast of Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga.
Satellite pictures revealed the new island still shrouded by smoke,
and a huge raft of pumice floating about two miles north of the
eruption."

"The energy release from the Tonga 7.9 earthquake and
eruption was nearly 1000 megatons. By contrast, the largest
hydrogen bomb in the U.S. inventory had a maximum yield
of 20 megatons."

See spectacular and large pictures of it at:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/undersea_eruptions_near_tonga.html