Phys.org September 7, 2023 In December 2021, an undersea volcano in the southern Pacific Ocean, the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai (Hunga volcano) began erupting. In January 2022 the eruption reached a powerful climax, triggering atmospheric waves that traveled around the globe and a tsunami that swept across the Pacific Ocean. An estimated 75% of Earth’s volcanoes are underwater, and 20% of all fatalities caused by volcanic eruptions since 1600 CE have been associated with underwater volcanism. Yet, explosive underwater eruptions are poorly understood. An international team of researchers (UK, New Zealand, Kingdom of Tonga, Australia, USA – industry) reported that volcanic […]
Tag Archives: Tonga
A year on, we now know why the Tongan eruption was so violent. It’s a wake-up call to watch other submarine volcanoes
Phys.org January 13, 2023 An international team of researchers (Tonga, New Zealand) studied the texture and chemistry of the erupted particles to find clues about the event’s violence. Isotopic “fingerprinting” showed at least three different magma sources were involved. Two magma bodies were older and resident in the middle of the Earth’s crust, the younger one joined shortly before the eruption. The mingling of magmas caused a strong reaction, driving water and other “volatile elements” out of solution and into gas. This created bubbles and an expanding magma foam, pushing the magma out vigorously at the onset of eruption. The […]
The Tonga Eruption’s 50 Million Tons of Water Vapor May Warm Earth For Months to Come
Scince Alert September 25, 2022 Recently, researchers calculated that the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apa spewed a staggering 50 million tons of water vapor into the atmosphere, in addition to enormous quantities of ash and volcanic gases. Particles of rock and ash can also temporarily cool the planet by blocking sunlight. Widespread and violent volcanic activity in Earth’s distant past may have contributed to global climate change, triggering mass extinctions millions of years ago. In underwater volcanoes, submarine eruptions can draw large parts of their explosive energy from the interaction of water and hot magma, which propels huge quantities of […]
Tonga is home to 170 islands. A new one just formed from an underwater volcanic eruption
Phys.org September 27, 2022 The Pacific nation of Tonga is made up of 170 islands, but it just welcomed its newest addition—thanks to an underwater volcano. Near the center of the nation’s island formation lies the Home Reef volcano in the South Pacific. On Sept. 10, the volcano began to erupt for the first known time since 2006, oozing lava and ejecting plumes of steam and ash in and above water, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory. Just 11 hours after the eruption began, a new island had appeared, and NASA confirmed its formation with satellite images. When the island was […]
Elusive atmospheric wave detected during Tonga volcanic eruption
Phys.org September 19, 2022 Using state-of-the-art observational data and computer simulations an international team of researchers (Japan, USA -University of Hawaii) discovered the existence of Pekeris waves—fluctuations in air pressure that were theorized in 1937 but never proven to occur in nature, till after the Tonga eruption. The atmospheric wave pattern close to the eruption was quite complicated, but thousands of miles away the disturbances were led by an isolated wave front traveling horizontally at more than 650 miles per hour as it spread outward. The air pressure perturbations associated with the initial wave front were seen clearly on thousands […]