Tonga Volcano Eruption Baffles Scientists | Another Large Eruption Detected
The world watched in amazement and horror asthe most violent volcanic eruption our planet has experienced in 30 years sent massive shockwaves through its atmosphere and out into space the extraordinary blast of Hunga Tonga-HungaHa’apai was heard as far away as Alaska and was seen by orbiting satellites even atmosphericgravity waves were detected by a nasa satellite and dozens of concentric circles of gaseous wavesmay have circled our world several times what does this mean for global weather patterns earthquakesand even a new ice age welcome to Factnomenal in today's video we plunged deep into theextraordinary event that literally shook our earth what does it mean for the near futureand is it a warning that humanity must heed At about 5:10 p.m local time on January 15 2022a blast 1200 times more powerful than the atomic .
Bomb dropped on Hiroshima unleashed terror on theresidents of the beautiful archipelago of tonga in the south pacific ocean government officialsthere report waves nearly 50 feet high from the ensuing tsunami and recovery will takeyears what the rest of the world saw was also shocking the initial blast generated so muchupward force and heat that it sent a plume of ash and vapor over 34 miles into the mesosphere wellover three times as far from earth's surface as air normally rises and the highest cloud everseen barometers around the world bounced up and down at least three times from the circularshock waves exploding from the south pacific in fact the pressure wave spread around theglobe initially at 700 miles per hour faster than the speed of sound and created sonic boomsthat nearly reached the arctic circle weather .
Officials in Seattle credit the explosion shockwaves with temporarily lifting the city's fog one reason for the sheer ferocity of the explosionwas the relatively shallow depth below the ocean surface roughly 490 to 820 feet that gas-richmagma contacted seawater when the magma came out there wasn't much pressure on it says Dr ShaneCronin at Auckland University in New Zealand the gases expanded and blasted the magma apartand then as those little fragments of hot magma encounter the cold sea water you flash water intosteam and basically expand the volume by 70 times so you supercharge your eruption met op satellitesthat measure weather from orbit recorded temperature fluctuations as the wave descended inthe atmosphere causing air to warm by compression and we haven't even mentioned the light showthe plume produced almost 400 000 lightning .
Strikes within just a few hours of the eruptionthat's more than 5,000 a minute lightning is beautiful and deadly and a regular occurrence butscientists weren't prepared for a sight not seen in previous volcanic eruptions a striking patternof atmospheric gravity waves it's really unique we have never seen anything like this inthe data before says Dr. Lars Hoffman of the Eulek supercomputing center in Germanywhat he's referring to are ripples in space nasa's aqua satellite studies earth'sprecipitation evaporation and cycling of water and every day its atmospheric infrared sounderor heirs gathers infrared energy emitted from earth's surface and atmosphere globally imagescollected by airs are startling showing dozens of concentric circles stretching nearly 10 000 mileswhile circling the planet air molecules in the .
Atmosphere are normally moved horizontally thoughmountain tops and localized weather events can push them vertically when this happens atmosphericgravity waves result those very high clouds that look like ripples are the result of this upwardspressure but nothing nothing scientists have seen even from previous eruptions compares to theeffects of energy from the sudden explosion of hot air and gas after this monumental eventpicture the sound waves from striking a musical instrument reverberating outward or the rippleson a pond from a thrown rock and you'll get a good visual of the global force unleashed through ouratmosphere and beyond by the underwater volcano's powerful eruption scientists are watching theworldwide effects closely as gravity waves can impede periodic reversals of wind directions thusaffecting weather patterns and there's a very .
Fortunate but mysterious aspect of this event thatpuzzles scientists why didn't more people perish out of 181 countries tonga is third fromthe bottom for its vulnerability to natural disasters according to the world risk index TheHunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which sits in the aptly named “Ring of Fire” erupted around 43miles north of Tonga's main island where almost three-quarters of the archipelago's population ofroughly 105 000 lives political leaders say tonga expects tsunamis cyclones and earthquakes thoughnot on this scale and perhaps this preparedness and mindset saved hundreds or even thousands oflives also the volcano had been blasting lesser eruptions since December a radio reporter onthe main island Marianne Cupo said the final eruption sounded like a bomb exploding alertingthe populace to head for higher ground our ears .
Were ringing we couldn't even hear each other shesaid the only thing that kind of scared us was that the disaster was different from the previousones which is always tropical cyclones tsunami waves close to the eruption reached almost 50 feethigh thankfully tidal gauges measured the waves at just over three feet when they reached the capitalthough tsunami waves are very different from the normal variety the sheer pressure and volume ofwater causes severe property damage and tosses vehicles like children's toys with that in mindare more eruptions coming in the south pacific and earthquakes according to Dr Andreas Cronenberg ofTexas a m the entire southwest pacific has what we call strata volcanoes these are extremely powerfulvolcanoes and are also the kinds that include Mount Vesuvius that covered Pompei in Italy it'spossible such an eruption could trigger nearby .
Activity researchers in New Zealand also warnedthat studies of previous eruptions of this volcano suggest it may be active for several weeks ormonths this particular volcano was also unique in triggering the first ocean-wide tsunami in thepacific not caused by an earthquake and of course for giving a spectacular view from spaceinterestingly one of europe's two satellites that its eyes on the planet's weather sentinel1b went dark two days before Christmas and it's not waking up speaking of weather what can weexpect in the coming weeks and months and beyond around 400,000 tons of sulfur dioxide were blastedinto earth's atmosphere and while this results in acid rain and affects earth's climate wecaught a break this time a big break this volcanic eruption lasted several minutes rememberthat this latest volcanic eruption is the largest .
In 30 years well as powerful and awe-inspiringas it was it pales in comparison to the Mount Pinatubo blast in the Philippines in 1991 30years ago that spectacular event the largest eruption of the last century blasted exponentiallymore material into the stratosphere for roughly nine solid hours that time about 15 to 20million tons of sulfur dioxide went skyward and the largest stratospheric sulfur dioxidecloud ever measured by modern instruments hung over the planet for the next three years thesulfur dioxide reacted with atmospheric water to form a hazy layer of aerosol particles circlingthe globe 10 to 100 times normal levels these scattered and absorbed incoming sunlightcooling the earth by an average one degree Fahrenheit over the next 15 months and whilewe're noting planetary changes due to Pinatubo .
Sunsets were considerably more colorful formany months afterwards so what do you think about this phenomenal eruption would you pull outyour camera to record such an event or would you run for your life tell us in the comments andas always thank you for watching Factnomenal
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Many in Tonga had no time to flee as a tsunami struck after the volcano eruption. The world watched in amazement and horror as the most violent volcanic eruption our planet has experienced in 30 years sent massive shock waves through Earth’s atmosphere and out into space. The extraordinary blast on Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai was heard as far away as Alaska and was seen by orbiting satellites. Even atmospheric gravity waves were detected by a NASA satellite, and dozens of concentric circles of gaseous waves may have circled our world several times. What does this mean for global weather patterns, earthquakes, and even a new Ice Age? Welcome to Factnomenal! In today’s video we plunge deep into the extraordinary event that literally shook our Earth. What does it mean for the near future, and is it a warning that humanity must heed? Buy us a coffee to show your support! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Factnomenal Tonga the Biggest Eruption Ever Seen from Space DON’T CLICK THIS LINK: https://tinyurl.com/357shs3j Thanks for watching Factnomenal! 🌎 Subscribe for more space discoveries, space facts, and space in general! 🔔 Hit the bell next to subscribe so you never miss a video! ► For copyright matters, make sure to send us an email to Adam@trustedmiddle.com #TongaVolcano #Factnomenal #Space
