Wednesday, February 12, 2025

January 17, 2022

You’ve Never Seen Anything Like This Tongan Volcano Eruption Footage [Videos]

The eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai, a volcano about 65 kilometres north of Tonga’s main island, has led to some incredible footage.

[imagesource: CIRA / NOAA / Handout via Reuters]

With drones, smartphones, and advancements in technology, we are seeing footage of natural disasters that we never thought previously possible.

A drone flying into an erupting volcano – sure, why not?

The eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai, a volcano about 65 kilometres north of Tonga’s main island, Tongatapu, has also led to some incredible footage.

The underwater volcano erupted in 2009 and in late 2014, with renewed eruptions starting again from December 21 of last year.

On Saturday (January 15), reports The Washington Post, a particularly explosive eruption occurred which resulted in “arguably the most remarkable and striking display of volcanic power captured by a weather satellite”.

Observe:

More from The Post:

The plume towered to about 100,000 feet, roughly three times the altitude at which commercial aircraft fly. Thunderstorms flatten out at the tropopause, or top of the troposphere, the lowest level of Earth’s atmosphere, since a lid of warm air suppresses continued upward development.

Hunga Tonga’s plume, however, was so buoyant that it was able to penetrate this layer and continue into the stratosphere…

Satellite imagery captured “gravity waves” rippling outward from where the plume punctured this ceiling-like layer in the lower atmosphere — like wavelets surrounding a stone tossed in a pond.

You can see that here:

Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, has suffered “significant” damage and the effects of the eruption are being felt globally.

How about this sonic boom?

Audible booms could be heard at the National Weather Service in Anchorage and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, meaning that the sound carried more than 8 000 kilometres.

First comes the eruption and then the tsunamis.

Santa Cruz in California was hit by flooding due to a tidal surge generated by the tsunami, Peru closed a number of ports, and waves hit Japan’s Pacific Coast.

The situation was dire in Tonga:

The Tongan death toll is unknown, with two confirmed deaths in Peru due to abnormally big waves.

[source:washpost]