Volcanologist compares Tonga eruption to hydrogen bomb

by time news

On January 15, an explosion occurred in the Pacific Ocean, comparable in power to the explosion of a hydrogen bomb. The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Haapai volcano thundered in the Tonga archipelago. The sounds of its shock wave reached as far as New Zealand, and the smoke and ash rose to a height of 18-20 kilometers. The event, which happens once every 12 years, was recorded by a space satellite, which turned out to be almost above the volcano itself during the explosion. Together with the director of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexei Ozerov, we looked into the details of what happened.

Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Hapaai a small island in the Tonga archipelago, which appeared from the explosion of an underwater volcano in 2014. Its new eruption, according to Alexei Yurievich, was predicted by scientists in advance. There were many signs of this.

As early as January 13-14, volcanic bombs (lava clots), ash began to be released here, besides, seismologists recorded a series of earthquakes. The danger of being in that area had been foreseen in advance. The explosion itself eventually received a good display thanks to the satellite flying just over this area. There was a very strong eruption, which can be compared with the explosion of a hydrogen bomb.

– What led to the strongest explosion on January 15?

This is a question that many are still looking for an answer to. For a number of our Kamchatka volcanoes, we have already developed models of such an explosive eruption. To do this, you need to take samples of rocks, analyze them – this is a lot of painstaking work.

In this case, one can only assume that the ejection of a very large volume of rock to a great height could be caused by the fact that at the time of the eruption, water entered the red-hot “center” of the volcano through some crack. And this red-hot hearth with a temperature of 1100-1200 degrees Celsius immediately turned into a steam boiler, there was an instantaneous, very strong expansion of water vapor. The eruption was very powerful.

Indeed, according to local residents who shared what was happening on social networks, the shock wave from the explosion was heard even in Fiji, Samoa and New Zealand. For the nearest large settlement, the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga, Nukualofe, the “end of the world” came: loud explosions were heard everywhere, small stones and ashes fell from the sky, local residents wrote that the sun was hidden by a veil of ash, and the day turned into night.

The kingdom began to collapse in the automobile, because many residents, fearing a powerful tsunami, stuck in traffic jams, fleeing to higher ground.

The eruption was assigned a VEI 5 ​​index on a scale from 0 to 8 VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index), related to how much volcanic material is ejected, to what height and how long the eruption lasts.

Well, immediately after the explosive eruption in Nuku’alofa, an earthquake of magnitude 4.0 and a tsunami 1.2 meters high were recorded. Some instruments showed that the height of the waves even reached two meters.

So far they haven’t told us, but I think there were no human casualties there, Ozerov says. – A tsunami alert was given in South America, in Japan, in the Kuril Islands, in Kamchatka.

Did it eventually reach our shores?

In the Kuriles, the waves were several tens of centimeters, this is not much.

Have there been eruptions of such force in Kamchatka?

There are even stronger eruptions in Kamchatka. So, in 1956, the Bezymyanny volcano threw ash to a height of 40 (!) km, and in 1964, the Shiveluch volcano to 20 km.

– Are you ready for a new possible eruption of such force?

We have all the knowledge necessary for this. But it is necessary to help volcanologists and seismologists with modern instruments. We are in dire need of updating the instrumentation base and young researchers. Everyone in the Ministry of Education and Science seems to understand this… But in order for events like today’s not to come as a surprise to our citizens, in addition to understanding, we also need real help.

– What’s next for the volcano in Tonga?

At 90 percent, everything has already ended there, but history also knows more prolonged eruptions. We will wait for reports from the hottest corner of the planet.

Volcanic eruption on the island of Tonga caused a tsunami: video of the elements

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