A new study conducted by researchers from the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the University of Miami claims that the 2022 eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga was more powerful than the largest nuclear explosion in the United States.
One of the largest natural explosions in more than a century, the 15-megaton volcanic explosion from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai caused a megatsunami with waves up to 17 meters (56 feet) on Tongatapu, the country’s most populous island, and 45 meters (148 feet) high waves along the coast of Tofua Island.
In another examination in Science Advances, Rosenstiel School specialists utilized a mix of satellite symbolism, drone planning, field perceptions gathered by researchers at the College of Auckland, and information from the Khaled receptacle Ruler Living Seas Establishment Worldwide Reef Undertaking to deliver a wave reenactment of the Tongan Archipelago. The findings demonstrated that the region’s intricate shallow bathymetry served as a low-velocity wave trap, capturing a tsunami that lasted more than an hour and had waves as high as 85 meters (279 feet) one minute after the initial explosion.
“We believe the main factors that contributed to this are the unusual location, the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased evacuation drills and awareness efforts carried out in Tonga in the years preceding the eruption.”
Sam Purkis, professor and chair of the Department of Marine Geosciences at the Rosenstiel School.
The submarine volcanic eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, which formed the Tonga island chain and was caused by the convergence of the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates, was comparable to Krakatau’s 1883 eruption, which killed over 36,000 people.
According to Sam Purkis, professor and chair of the Department of Marine Geosciences at the Rosenstiel School, “the mega-tsumani that resulted from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai claimed few lives, despite its size and long duration.” We propose that the peculiarity of the location, the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased evacuation drills and awareness efforts in Tonga in the years prior to the eruption are the primary factors that contributed to this.
The tsunami’s propagation across the Tonga archipelago is animated. Credit: Steven N. Ward – Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California Santa Cruz, U.S.A.
The recreation likewise proposed that the emission area’s comparison with metropolitan areas saved Tonga from a more terrible result.
“While 2022 may have been a fortunate departure, other submarine volcanoes have the ability to produce a future wave at a similar scale,” said Purkis, who is likewise the boss researcher at the Khaled Receptacle Ruler Living Seas Establishment.
“This eruption teaches us a lot about past and future tsunamis in Tonga and elsewhere. The emission was a brilliant normal lab to test speculations and models that can be sent somewhere else to further develop future debacle arrangements and better figure out comparative ejections and the ensuing wave as protected in days of yore and in the geologic record.”
More information: Sam Purkis, The 2022 Hunga-Tonga Mega-tsunami: Near-Field Simulation of a Once-in-a-Century Event, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf5493. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf5493
