Volcano eruption in Tonga was biggest of the century, study confirms

After carefully analyzing the data collected during the explosion volcano in Tonga By 2022, the researchers concluded that the phenomenon was the largest of its kind to date in the century. The explosion hurled ten cubic kilometers of material into the air.

The odds were huge. The ash cloud produced by the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption reached half of mainland France. Another similar disaster recorded by humans occurred in 1991 at Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.

The researchers used an algorithm to analyze the scale of the disaster based on previous data. The program classifies events according to the Volcanic Explosiveness Index (VEI).

Destroying 90% of the desolate Hunga Tonga Ha’apai island, the explosion reached level 6. Events like this are rare by experts and should occur once every century.

The highest possible VEI value is 8. But such eruptions have not occurred for tens of thousands of years, according to scientists. The occurrence of this level could be catastrophic for the planet: It is estimated that they will release 100 times more material into the atmosphere than the volcano in Tonga.

The study authors highlight the effectiveness of using an algorithm in the analysis of seismic events. According to them, explosions occur in remote places where there is a shortage of measuring equipment.

Scientists rely on a network of monitoring stations that can capture subtle reverberations from the ground to monitor the occurrence of phenomena. The novelty is that this data is enough for the algorithm to estimate the size of an explosion in just a few hours.

ARTICLE Geophysical Research Letters: doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098123