![]() Many residents in Tonga were stuck in traffic whilst attempting to flee to higher ground. Loud explosions were heard 65 km (40 mi) away in Nukuʻalofa, and small stones and ash rained down from the sky. Ash from the eruption made landfall on the main island of Tongatapu, blotting out the sun. The VAAC again issued an advisory notice to airlines. The eruption column from this eruption rose 58 km (36 mi) into the mesosphere. A much larger Plinian eruption started the following day (15 January 2022) at 17:14 local time (04:14:45 UTC, 15 January). ![]() Later in the afternoon, Tongan geologists near the volcano observed explosions and a 5-kilometre-wide (3.1 mi) ash column between 17:00 and 18:30 local time. The government of Tonga issued a tsunami warning to residents, and waves of 30 cm (12 in) were observed in Nuku'alofa. A large eruption commenced on 14 January 2022 at 04:20 local time (15:20 UTC, 13 January), sending clouds of ash 20 km (12 mi) into the atmosphere. January 2022 Īs activity on the island decreased, it was declared dormant by the Tonga Geological Services on 11 January 2022. Eruption plumes during the second half of December 2021 interrupted air travel to Tonga multiple times. During 29–30 December 2021, several surges of Surtseyan activity occurred, some of which were witnessed by passengers on a small South Seas Charters boat. On 25 December 2021, satellite imagery revealed that the island had increased in size by 300–600 metres (980–1,970 ft) on its eastern side. Ash plumes reached heights of only 3 km (1.9 mi), depositing ash only adjacent to the volcano. īetween 24 and 27 December 2021, steam and gas emissions reached altitudes of 10.3–12.2 kilometres (6.4–7.6 mi). ![]() Surtseyan explosions, steam plumes and steam bursts were recorded by a Tonga Navy crew on 23 December 2021, during which time the first ground-based images of the eruption were created. On 22 and 23 December 2021, 8-to-14-kilometre-high (5.0 to 8.7 mi) plumes containing sulfur dioxide drifted to the north-north-east and spread over the Niuatoputapu, Haʻapai and Vavaʻu island groups. This initial eruption ended at 02:00 on 21 December 2021. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) in Wellington, New Zealand, issued an advisory notice to airlines. A large plume of ash was visible from Nukuʻalofa, the capital city of Tonga, about 70 km (43 mi) from the volcano. Volcanic activity December 2021 Footage of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption on 30 December 2021Īfter staying relatively inactive since 2014, the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcano erupted on 20 December 2021, sending particulates into the stratosphere. It is thought that in recent centuries, only the Krakatoa eruption of 1883 rivalled the atmospheric disturbance produced. The eruption was the largest explosion recorded in the atmosphere by modern instrumentation, far larger than any 20th-century volcanic event or nuclear bomb test. NASA determined that the eruption was "hundreds of times more powerful" than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It was the largest volcanic eruption since the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, and the most powerful eruption since the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. Two people drowned in Peru when 2 m (6 ft 7 in) waves struck the coast. Tsunami waves with run-up heights up to 45 m (148 ft) struck the uninhabited island of Tofua. At least four people were killed, some were injured, and some remain possibly missing in Tonga from tsunami waves up to 20 m (66 ft) high. The eruption caused tsunamis in Tonga, Fiji, American Samoa, Vanuatu, New Zealand, Japan, the United States, the Russian Far East, Chile and Peru. Described by scientists as a "magma hammer", the volcano at its height produced a series of four underwater thrusts, displaced 10 cubic kilometres (2.4 cu mi) of rock, ash and sediment, and generated the largest atmospheric explosion recorded by modern instrumentation. In the Volcanic Explosivity Index scale, the eruption was rated at least a VEI-5. Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai is 65 kilometres (40 mi) north of Tongatapu, the country's main island, and is part of the highly active Tonga–Kermadec Islands volcanic arc, a subduction zone extending from New Zealand to Fiji. The eruption reached a very large and powerful climax nearly four weeks later, on 15 January 2022. In December 2021, an eruption began on Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai, a submarine volcano in the Tongan archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean. Satellite animation of the initial ash plume and shockwave on 15 January 2022Ģ0☃3′00″S 175☂3′06″W / 20.550°S 175.385°W / -20.550 -175.385 ( Hunga Tonga)Īt least 6 dead, 19 injured, and others reported missing, $90.4 million in damages in Tonga (estimated)
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