Satellites orbiting Earth captured a robust undersea volcanic eruption from space on Thursday (Jan. 13).
In the South Pacific kingdom of Tonga, which is made up of over 170 islands, the (largely) underwater volcano on the island Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai erupted, sending plumes as much as 12 miles (20 kilometers) into the air, the Tonga Geological Services has shared on-line.
Orbiting probes have captured pictures of the continuing explosive occasion, which follows a earlier eruption in December 2021. This occasion is greater than seven occasions as highly effective as December’s eruption and has to date sparked a tidal wave in Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa and a tsunami warning for all islands in Tonga, along with attainable threats of acid rain.
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This picture above exhibits the volcanic eruption as seen by NOAA’s (the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) GOES West satellite, an Earth-orbiting probe.
In this imagery from GOES West, you possibly can see the ash plume and gravity waves rippling outward from the eruption. So far, the eruption has stretched to have a radius of over 161 miles (260 km), NOAA reported.
In the Ash RGB (“red, green and blue”) imagery above, researchers can see the eruption in infrared, serving to them to establish volcanic ash and sulfur dioxide ash utilizing coloration.
The Himawari-8 satellite, operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency, additionally captured the eruption from space, as you possibly can see above.
Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or observe her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
