Earlier this year, the underwater Tonga Volcano in the Pacific Ocean resulted in a massive blast that shot out massive pressure waves through the atmosphere across the world.
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And a new study (reporter first by ScienceAlert) has found that these were the fastest ever to be observed, achieving speeds of 1,158 kilometres per hour, almost as fast as the speed of sound. These were in fact very close to the theoretical limit.
The volcano named Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai is around 65 kilometres northwest of the Tongan capital of Nuku’alofa and is amidst a line of volcanoes dubbed the Tonga-Kermadec volcanic arc.
On January 15, Hunga erupted and sent a massive plume of gas and particles blowing into the mesosphere, reaching 58 kilometres at its highest point, while also becoming the largest volcanic plume in the satellite record.
This event was being monitored by several ground-based and space-borne monitoring systems, where one research team found that the Hunga eruption sent ripples across the ocean, creating small yet fast-travelling meteotsunamis (waves driven by air-pressure disturbances) that appeared in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
NASA
Researchers also saw, above the Earth’s surface, around 100 kilometres above the planet, shockwaves that were a result of the eruption resulted in powerful winds with speeds of up to 720 kilometres per hour.
Based on the same satellite data and ground-level observations, researchers have confirmed that the Hung eruption was among the most explosive volcanic events in the history of humanity. In fact, the atmospheric waves produced by the volcano lapped Earth at least six times reaching speeds of around 320 metres per second.
Tonga Geological Services
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Study lead author Corwin Wright, a Royal Society University Research Fellow based at the Centre for Space, Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the University of Bath in the UK, said in a statement, “This was a genuinely huge explosion, and truly unique in terms of what’s been observed by science to date.”
He added, “The eruption was an amazing natural experiment. The data we’ve been able to gather on it will enhance our understanding of our atmosphere and will help us improve our weather and climate models.”
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