The violent eruption a few hours ago of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano captured by satellites GOES-West and Himawari-8. pic.twitter.com/PzV5v9apF6
— Wonder of Science (@wonderofscience) January 15, 2022
The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano near Tonga has been erupting occasionally for the past month. After a break in the action since January 5, it erupted again Thursday and Friday, but the biggest eruption was on Saturday (January 15), with an explosion that was heard 800 kilometers away in Fiji. A resulting tsunami hit Tonga's largest island Tongatapu, and tsunami advisories went out for parts of Japan, New Zealand's north island, and the US west coast this morning. Here's a video of the tsunami rolling in to Tonga.
BREAKING: Tsunami hits Tonga as nearby volcano erupts pic.twitter.com/TRM1iKtAft
— BNO News (@BNONews) January 15, 2022
Tonga's next challenge is falling ash and acid rain. Let's see that eruption from another satellite image.
I have never seen satellite imagery of a volcanic eruption quite like this. Incredibly powerful eruption of Hunga Tonga volcano in the South Pacific. Tsunamis impacting nearby islands. Reports of people feeling and hearing the eruption in Fiji, 800 km away! Wow. https://t.co/EG2EYdssBX
— Elizabeth Leitman (@WxLiz) January 15, 2022
The shock wave generated by the recent eruption of Hunga Tonga #volcano is even visible on satellite imagery. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/5Hih2mPePs
— CyanideCN (@CyanideCN_) January 15, 2022
To understand how big the eruption was, this one shows the curvature of the earth.
Different perspective shows the waves propagating outward from the eruption. pic.twitter.com/fetNumZnYs
— Dakota Smith (@weatherdak) January 15, 2022
CNN is providing continuing updates on the effects of the eruption. -via Fark