Major Blast in Tonga Create Tsunami and Heavy Ash Fall
From www.discovermagazine.com
2022-01-15 16:45:00
Erik Klemetti
Excerpt:
The first major volcanic eruption struck today in the island nation of Tonga. Over the past few weeks, the small volcanic island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai had been experiencing minor but impressive explosions. However, on January 14-15, the eruption became much more violent, sending ash over 60,000 feet (18 kilometers) into the skies. The blast also generated a tsunami that hit many of the islands in Tonga, destroying homes and buildings across the country.
UPDATE January 15, 7 pm ET: News continues to trickle in about this eruption. Current estimates for the ash column put it closer to 100,000 feet (~30 kilometers), which means it punched into the stratosphere. It released a siginificant amount of sulfur dioxide as well. The tsunami that raced across the Pacific Ocean created waves over 3 feet (1 meter) tall in places like Santa Cruz, California and the Oregon coast. There might even have been a “meteo-tsunami” in the Caribbean generated by the pressure wave in the atmosphere. We detected the pressure wave here in Ohio at ~9:45 am ET, with our seismometer also seeing a low frequency (<20 Hz) signal, which could be the shockwave passing the midwest.
