There’s a lot of news and info online about the recent volcanic eruptions in Tonga, which occurred yesterday.
NatGeo has put together an explainer, covering everything from the tsunami warnings to sonic booms heard in and around Tonga:
Just a few weeks ago, a submarine volcano identifiable by two small uninhabitable islands in the Kingdom of Tonga began to erupt. Its outburst initially seemed innocuous, with ashen plumes and moderate explosions that few people living outside the archipelago noticed.
But in the past 24 hours, that volcano, named Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, forced the world to sit up and pay attention.
After a moment of calm earlier this month, its eruptive activity turned increasingly violent. The middle section of the island vanished on satellite imagery. Towering columns of ash began to produce record-breaking amounts of lightning.
There are also some interesting data visualisations from Reddit and Twitter if you’re into that sort of thing:
- Tongan Eruption – 15 Hours Since Timelapse
- Tonga Eruption as seen in Infrared Satellite Data
- Pressure wave of the vulcanic eruption near Tonga, registered in Belgium, 16.700 km / 10.400 miles away
- Air pressure perturbations recorded across the US this morning following the Tonga volcano eruption
Volcano related: would you like a slice of volcano pizza, photos of La Soufrière’s eruption on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent, and Cumbre Vieja: an erupting volcano in 4K