The Tonga eruption took place under the sea, around 65km from the country’s main island, causing tsunamis felt as far away as Russia, the United States, and Chile. The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption as seen by Japan's Himawari-8 satellite on 15 January 2022. Crucially, during the eruption itself, the satellites recorded images every 10 minutes, enabling the rapid changes in the plume’s trajectory to be documented. And what exactly was the plume composed of?’The study, ‘The January 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano reached the mesosphere’ has been published in the journal Science. ">Video of Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption (Zoomed-in view)A zoomed-in view of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption on 15 January 2022, recorded by NOAA's GOES-17 weather satellite.
