Hunga Tonga Volcano Update; 50 Mile Long Pyroclastic Flows, New Eruption Size Estimate

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The destructive eruption of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai which occurred in January of 2022 was the largest explosive eruption of the 21st century. New research into the eruption has revealed that it produced pyroclastic flows which travelled up to 50 miles or 80 kilometers distant. This marks the longest pyroclastic flows to occur on the planet since 1883 and perhaps even the largest in the last 1,000 years.

Thumbnail Photo Credit: NOAA, Colorized with hotspot.ai commercial license credits

Special Thanks to: Shane Cronin, @scronin70 (Twitter) for spectacular volcanic sunset photos

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Source of Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) methodology and criteria: Newhall, C. G., and Self, S. (1982), The volcanic explosivity index (VEI) an estimate of explosive magnitude for historical volcanism, J. Geophys. Res., 87( C2), 1231– 1238, doi:10.1029/JC087iC02p01231. Accessed / Read on Oct 5 2022.

Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers

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Sources/Citations:
[1] Mohammad Heidarzadeh, Aditya Riadi Gusman, Takeo Ishibe, Ramtin Sabeti, Jadranka Šepić, Estimating the eruption-induced water displacement source of the 15 January 2022 Tonga volcanic tsunami from tsunami spectra and numerical modelling, Ocean Engineering, Volume 261, 2022, 112165, ISSN 0029-8018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2022.112165. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0029801822014810), CC BY 4.0
[2] Twitter Exchange with scientist Shane Cronin, @scronin70 (Twitter)
[3] National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research, NIWA

0:00 Hunga Tonga Erupts
0:26 New Information 10 Months Later
2:43 A Tall Tsunami
3:27 Meteotsunami
4:12 Conclusion

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24 Comments

  1. I had previously proposed that pyroclastic flows from the eruption travelled around 20 to 30 km based on older seafloor data. Indeed this was true, and pyroclastic flows travelled 50 miles or 80 kilometers from Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai's summit. Not only is this staggering, but it has massive future implications for the placement of submarine cables and movement of ships and submarines around shallow submarine or shallow island volcanoes with calderas.

  2. The decrease in solar radiation (sunlight) reaching this planet's surface under the band of atmospheric dust from Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai is already impacting agriculture. This is going to impact weather and food production across some very important areas of our planet for years to come.

  3. That means we were lucky that it wasn´t a vulcano on a continent. Otherwise the damage would have been much, much bigger for human world population.

  4. In southern Australia it doesn’t feel like the planet has warmed. We’re getting the wettest weather on record and it’s cold AF! My tomatoes are doomed!

  5. Notice how the Pyroclastic smoke and debris clouds look exactly like those of the twin towers on 9/11. Only extreme heat and explosive forces can cause them but we are told to believe that planes flying into the top portion of the building spontaniously caused that two hours after crashing itno them.

  6. 1000s of volcanos and they think we are hurting the earth. Lmfao. That one explosion is all as much pollution that the humans put out in all of human existence.

  7. "larger than the state of Delaware" WTF??????? no one outside of your little neck of the woods would know where Delaware is or how large it is, Stupid stupid!!!!!1

  8. You can see that this particilar volcano was much larger on the past ans had eruoted under water many times. It's likely that the original eruption was on the sea bed. I imagine it took some time for it to reach the surface and build an island.

  9. Please share the Love of the Son of God. Please write His Words in your Heart, and share them. Please Forgive, and Pray for everyone… Immanuel, God with us….

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