Earth ID: 14214

How NASA Sees the Life Cycle of Volcanic Island Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai

Released on September 20, 2022

When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, it sent a tsunami racing around the world and set off a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. The underwater eruption in the South Pacific Ocean also blasted an enormous plume of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The sheer amount of water vapor could be enough to temporarily affect Earth’s global average temperature. So outside of its sheer magnitude, what makes this eruption so unique? Well, it’s really a matter of our ability to see it through NASA and ESA satellites.

Credits

Emily S Watkins (Intern): Lead Producer
Kathleen Gaeta (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.): Producer
James Garvin (NASA, Chief Scientist Goddard): Lead Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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Keywords:
DLESE >> Geology
DLESE >> Natural hazards
DLESE >> Structural geology
SVS >> Volcano
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Solid Earth >> Volcanoes
GCMD >> Location >> Tonga
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0