Studies of the Pacific Tamu volcanic massif, carried out by a joint team of Chinese and American scientists, have established that the area of this object is much larger than previous calculations. According to experts, the size of the volcano is so huge that it has no competitors, not only on our planet, but even in the solar system.
According to the latest data, the area of Tamu was considered to be 260,000 km², but recent studies have shown that this figure is actually twice as large. The result was derived from measurements and painstaking study of the structure of the volcano. The analysis showed that the size of the giant is 533,000 km². A report on the work done with the results of the study was published in the scientific publication Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
Until now, the first number in the list of the largest volcanoes in the solar system was Mount Olympus, located on Mars. But scientists at the Institute of Oceanology in Guangzhou estimate that Olympus is only 20% of Tamu's area. And the largest "terrestrial" volcano Mauna Loa (Hawaii) is 100 times smaller than the Pacific massif.
Tamu is approximately 4km high and is 2000m below sea level. Such giants are extremely rare, so it was believed for a long time that there could not be volcanoes of this size on Earth. But in 2013, experts found out that the volcanic belt located 1000 km from Japan is not a volcanic complex, but a single volcano.