Why Was the Tonga Eruption So Massive? Scientists Have New Clues

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The first thing we did was a circle around the volcano, and I’m going, ‘What the hell?' It just defied expectations.'

, with winds from the blast accelerating up to 450 miles per hour as they left the atmosphere’s outermost layers. This briefly redirected the flow of electrons around the planet’s equator, a phenomenon that had previously been observed during geomagnetic storms caused by solar wind.

One area where they didn’t venture was just right above the caldera, the depression left behind when the volcano blew. Mackay’s large research vessel full of scientists and crew had not dared sail there—not because of the risk of large explosions, but because ofthat might rise up from the eruption site. “Those gas bubbles can down ships, and they’ve done it before,” he says. But they suspected total destruction.

Both groups also found evidence of ongoing volcanic activity within Hunga. But despite these rumbles, the findings don’t suggest that the volcano remains an imminent danger to people living nearby. The caldera was so brutally emptied of magma that it has likely been reset to the state it was in 1,000 years ago, Cronin suggested, based on the dating of rocks from past eruptions. That’s a relief for Tongans still reeling from the eruption.

As they expected, the researchers didn’t observe the usual signs of life on the seafloor itself, like tracks and burrows. But they did encounter surprises—rocky arks rising above the ash-covered landscape. Corals, starfish, and mussels were still clinging to these areas, called seamounts. It’s likely that as the pyroclastic flows raced along the ocean’s bottom, they encircled the elevated outcrops, sparing the life on top, Seabrook says.

 

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