The power of the explosion of the undersea volcano Hunga Tonga Hunga Haapai was equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs and caused a tsunami 15 meters high
The deadly volcanic eruption that occurred earlier this year in the Tonga Islands was the most powerful ever recorded with modern equipment, a team of scientists in New Zealand revealed today.
The explosion of the undersea volcano Hunga Tonga Hunga Haapai, which occurred in mid-January, was equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs and caused a tsunami 15 meters high.
Three people died as a result of the volcano’s eruption, which destroyed dozens of houses, flattened coastal areas of the islands and snapped the communications cable that connected the archipelago to the Internet network.
“It was a shotgun blast directly into the sky”. 💥
NIWA scientists have confirmed January’s eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano was the largest ever recorded with modern technology. 🌋
🎥 Watch the full video here ➡️ https://t.co/XBEIjuWE7C pic.twitter.com/BMwcp0YP7C
— NIWA (@niwa_nz) November 21, 2022
The small Pacific island nation was cut off from the rest of the world for weeks, hampering rescue efforts.
Record breaking
According to research carried out by the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, the volcanic eruption released about 10 cubic kilometers of material, the equivalent of 2.6 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
These materials were ejected to a height greater than 40 kilometers, reaching the mesosphere, above the stratosphere. “The eruption reached a record height, it’s the first we’ve seen reach the mesosphere,” said marine geologist Kevin Mackay.
The eruption of Hunga Tonga Hunga Haapai rivals the 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano, which killed tens of thousands of people in Indonesia at a time when modern means of measurement did not exist.
Experts explain just how massive Tonga’s volcanic eruption really was https://t.co/t7tpcsYL6S #Newshub pic.twitter.com/iv0y8O9AKZ
— Newshub (@NewshubNZ) November 21, 2022
The science team also found that the crater of the volcano is now 700 kilometers deep.
The pyroclastic flows that formed, which reach 1,000 degrees Celsius and travel at a speed of 700 kilometers per hour, carried material from the volcano to a depth of at least 80 kilometers below the sea surface.
“The pyroclastic flows appear to have reached even further, perhaps as far as 100 kilometers,” said Emily Lane, the team’s director of research.
RES-EMP
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