Image – EPA / RAMMB / NOAA / NESDIS HANDOUT
The Earth is a planet in which phenomena occur every year that leave us speechless. One of those times was on January 15, 2022, when the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga, located in the Pacific Ocean, ejected an eruptive column that, according to experts, exceeded 25 kilometers in height., and not content with that, the noise was heard more than 1500 kilometers away, in New Zealand. For more information on this phenomenon, you can read how the Tonga volcano eruption affected Spain in this article about the effects of the eruption in the country and you can also find out more about the volcano tonga and how it influences the climate.
The eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano, in Polynesia, has been spectacular, so much so that could be seen even from spaceThe explosion was so severe that it caused extensive damage, primarily in Tonga, an archipelago of 170 small islands, but also in nearby areas. Furthermore, the entire Pacific coast, from Japan to the western United States, was on tsunami alert.
In this shocking video you can see how the sea invades Neskowin beach, in Oregon (United States):
Neskowin, Oregon, effects of the Tsunami caused by the explosion of an underwater volcano, the same occurs in California, Mexico, Chile and Japan.#Tonga pic.twitter.com/Nn6SKZMfyA
—MT. (@PandadelAmorXI) January 15, 2022
The governments of the Pacific countries urged the population to move away from the coast, and go to high points. And is not for less. In this satellite image, you can see the moment when the volcano expelled the huge column:
?#URGENTE | El #tsunami generated by the ongoing eruption of the submarine volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'Apai, in ?? is slowly crossing the Pacific: Hawaii, Alaska, United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. pic.twitter.com/r7Jf3q0XfY
— @LivingtonPanta (@livingtonpanta) January 15, 2022
But, what no one could believe, was that its waves reached points as far away as Spain. And it is that, If we go to Google Earth, we can see how far Tonga is from this country, more than 17 thousand kilometers:
Tonga can be placed in the lower left corner of the image, and Spain in the upper right corner.
On Twitter there was no talk of anything else. Both meteorology buffs and experts couldn't believe their eyes: the air pressure experienced a sharp drop when the volcano expelled such a quantity of gas into the atmosphere. This caused that, for example in the Balearic Islands, the pressure suffered several changes, the greatest of all being 1.1 hPa:
I'm simply amazed! The shock wave from the volcano's explosion has reached as far as the Balearic Islands! Several pressure surges, the largest of which was 1.1 hPa. Will there be a rissaga? pic.twitter.com/QFsU6FbdvQ
– Iván Domínguez Fuentes (@idfeiven) January 15, 2022
across the pond, in the Canary Islands, the explosion generated seismic waves, whose energy is equivalent to a magnitude 5,8 earthquake, as INVOLCAN, the Canarian Seismic Network, explained to local radio:
The Canarian Seismic Network @involcan recorded seismic waves today created by the exceptional explosion of the Hunga Tonga submarine volcano, located in the Pacific Ocean. The explosion generated seismic waves with an energy equivalent to a magnitude 5,8 earthquake. pic.twitter.com/hog69PSTvn
– Canary Islands Radio (@laautonomica) January 15, 2022
Without a doubt, this phenomenon will be remembered as one of the most surprising of the year, and who knows, maybe of the century.
