The massive eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano near the island nation of Tonga, which triggered a tsunami on Jan. 15, was one of the strongest ever recorded, according to the latest studies. The eruptions sent shockwaves around the world and even to the edge of space. Fortunately, the eruption took place underwater and away from densely populated areas.
“This was a really powerful explosion and really unique from what science has observed so far,” study lead author Corwin Wright and his team at the Center for Space, Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the University of Bath, England, report. in the magazine Nature. The eruption therefore drove pressure waves around the earth, which rose to almost 1159 kilometers per hour. They have circumnavigated the globe at least four times in one direction and three times in the other, the researchers said.
At the so-called Kármán Line, an imaginary boundary 100 kilometers above sea level used to distinguish aviation from space travel, the shock waves generated strong winds reaching speeds of up to 730 kilometers per hour. The scientists write that they were the same size as those measured before the Krakatous eruption in 1883.
Explosion “close to theoretical limit”
“We’ve never seen atmospheric waves around the world or at this speed – they traveled very close to the theoretical limit,” says the scientist. “The eruption was an amazing natural experiment. The data we have been able to collect will improve our understanding of our atmosphere and help us improve our weather and climate models.”
According to the American space agency NASA, the eruption of the submarine volcano was 100 times stronger than the explosive force of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, which largely destroyed the Japanese city in 1945. The amount of energy released may have been equivalent to “about four to 18 megatons of TNT.”
Island suddenly completely disappeared
Satellite images show that an island that only formed in 2015 during a month-long eruption of the volcano has completely disappeared. This was “wiped out” by the eruption, according to NASA. Only two small, separate landmasses remain.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
