I have been wondering for the past year and a half why this eruption had not been being talked about more. It seems like it happened and then everyone immediately forgot about it. I was very glad to see the many scientists and seemingly NOVA have not forgotten about it! Spreading awareness of things like this is the only way to keep people prepared.
Maybe because it occurred underwater. I don't know how deep it is there but the pictures are giving you the top of the explosion. It's still pretty impressive.
@@jerometaperman7102 I agree, why? Don’t we always get news about volcanoes ? We had Mt. St. Helen’s here in the the US some decades ago. (Washington State) It’s important.
This video embellished a little in terms of this being the most explosive volcano ever recorded because that simply IS NOT true. It was a VEI 5.7 on the explosively index (which is a thing) in 1991 mount pinatubo erupted in the Philippines which was a VEI 6 (the maximum on the index). It simply is not true that this was the largest explosion ever recorded there have been dozens more explosions that were larger than this in the last 100 years. This was the most destructive but that is because it was an underwater volcano with a tsunami associated. It really got on my nerves that they said it was the largest explosion ever recorded again and again and again because it was a blatant fallacy and I cannot imagine the writers of this documentary weren’t aware of this.
Great episode. The 1883 Krakatau event has long been a fascination of mine, and the extreme forces that blew apart that volcano may have been very similar to Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai. I didn't realize the tsunami had been as large as 60ft and the loss of only three people is a testament to their awareness.
@@charleskavoukjian3441 yep our planet earth has been here a long time it knows how to take care of itself.. another mass extinction is due soon enough, It happened 5 times....
@@Sugarsail1what is it with you people and hating being educated? You realize belligerent, narcissistic and willfully ignorant is no way to go through life right?
I loved it when it didnt have a political bias. Most of its shows still seem to be propaganda free, but its very obvious that many shows on PBS are completely Left Leaning, Political Correct bias, and straight Propaganda for the DNC, we need to hold our Public Broadcasting System to a higher standard, to an AMERICAN STANDARD.
Thank you Nova PBS for making this documentary. My mom and siblings live in Tonga and went through this event. My mother said everyone thought it was the end of the world. The thousands of thunder and lightnings with total darkness went on for hours. It was a miracle to have only 3 lives lost in this catastrophic event. A lot of the Tongans believed that Tonga was saved by God. Whether it was God or an invisible force, Tonga should have been sank under the Pacific Ocean given the powerful explosions that was 300 times more than the nuclear bomb of Nagasaki in 1945. A true miracle to survive such powerful eruption. Ofa atu.
I didn’t know Smoke Clouds could make lightening, until we had ongoing wildfires here in California. It was so dangerous because the lightening made more fires, and on, and on.
Perhaps Tongans were saved by God . Tongans are a good people . Fanciful though !We have a lot of Tongan families who are Australian . I feel like Tonga is a cousin to us .
@@susanfrancis5471 Ice , fractional and radioactive charging along with fractoemission and the height of the volcanic plume all create lightening during a volcanic eruption.
That's illogical, a big explosion(quite far away) doesn't inherently mean Tonga "should have been sank under the ocean" Nobody would expect anything like such an effect on Tonga. The waves were bigger than expected if anything, not exactly "saved". Earthquakes involve vastly greater power, and countries/islands likewise don't sink.The Tohuku earthquake was further from mainland Japan, but 2,175 megatons vs 15 megatons for the eruption. The overall volume of water displaced by the eruption would also have been vastly smaller than from a long fault line moving up to 50m(and possible resulting underwater landslides). The massive 2004 earthquake/tsunami was also almost directly under the city of Banda Aceh & surrounding small islands. Despite the huge tsunami, none of even the very small islands in the area sank. The Castle Bravo explosion was the same power as the volcano - 15Mt, much larger than the expected 4-6Mt explosion. It was tested directly on Bikini Atoll, the tiny island directly next to the crater it still there. It's a different kind of explosion/impact, but couldn't possibly be any closer.
This is the same thing that happened to Crete when Thera (now Santorini) exploded. The people living on Thera had warning it was going to erupt but thought it would be as it had done before, so they had time to get away. They didn't know it would collapse into the caldera and explode like this, and when it did, the islands in the path of the tsunamis were hit with waves now estimated to be about 100' high. People studying on Crete found a debris layer that shows the waves were that high. The buildings along that coast were blown back, as still evidenced today in the ruins. That happened around 1450 BCE.
But Santorini when exploded ejected 61 km3 material (magma, rocks), which is approx. 10x more then volcano eruption described in the video. Also Santorini caldera is bigger.
I lived in Patong, Phuket in 2004 when the tsunami happened and got to witness how horrible they are. I was a lucky one because I just so happened to be up on the mountain behind town visiting a friend when it happened and I got to see the whole thing from a high vantage point. It was scary.
@@apextroll After what happened in Thailand and then in Japan, which of course were both reported widely in the news all around the world, it seems likely to have served as a reminder and a warning for those who were in the path of these tsunami events.
@@nickmcginley4570 One would think that, but in the age of social media, people will choose filming and death over running and surviving. Also, in this particular case, there must be a historical understanding that you are living next to a giant monster and there must be an oral or written history known to these people.
I'm glad the scientific community is finally taking these remote volcanoes seriously, and realizing they need better monitoring. Buoys and other sensors need to be added there, as well as in Indonesia. The Tongan people are resilient and beautiful. I'm glad they had so few casualties. Hopefully, a year and a half later. They're getting what they need to continue rebuilding and expanding monitoring. ❤️
@@doug871 I heard wetter conditions in s-west are here to stay due to potential repeat of Younger Dryas climate event. If we continue to experience similar storms like the one in Aug. 2022 which washed away several roads and rained on casino tables in Vegas, this could be something to watch for.
This was really well done. Too many documentaries lately feel the need to "entertain" and dumb down as much as inform. This one consistently gets to the point. Thank you.
@@membranealpha5961 and don’t undermine God. There is no preparation for a Tonga event except prayer. You know what even Darwin said about his theory? About survival of the fittest? That the fittest also needed a little luck.
@@membranealpha5961 oh you are so correct. Which religion am I “forcing down your throat” and how do I force it without holding a weapon or threat of imprisonment? You don’t have to read my comments. You are free to spread your Marxist atheism everywhere so also feel free to communicate with the islanders who barely survived Tonga. They are a family oriented, “believer” culture, so good luck undermining the grace of God playing a part in their survival. Strange how you ignored my mention of Darwin’s opinion, when he commented that “even the fittest need a little luck.” Remember what happened to the dinosaurs 65 Mya: they were top predators but BOOM, one day their luck ran out. When I responded to you with “Pick one: God or luck?” as a rebuttal to you that the Tongans did NOT “prepare,” as you said they did, because the volcano eruption was TOTALLY unexpected, you react by blustering I’m forcing religion down your throat???? Now THAT’S just a nasty troll with low critical thinking skills and poor reading comprehension.
Back in the day, I made landfall in Tonga on my 34' sailboat after a nearly 3 month passage in the Southern Ocean and Tasman Sea from S. Africa. It was such a joy to arrive safe and sound in these welcoming islands after the long hard slog. I guess volcanoes and tsunamis are an ever present danger for these gentle folks.
Wow, that was fascinating!! My mind can't comprehend that the boat and crew were sitting in the middle of a giant underwater caldera with its giant 2 peaks sitting above water. I really loved the animation of the processes of what happened, made for better understanding. Well done team 👏 👍 👌🇦🇺
@@DoubleMonoLR uuhhmm, yes, but at least on land one can see the bottom of it. I was saying is these guys couldn't see the bottom from the surface. Is my comment so hard to understand?
I have to drive past Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Mount Shasta, and Mount Saint Helens quite often and every time I'm near them I'm always keeping a watchful eye on them. It's an eerie feeling, especially when you drive by Mount Shasta because if it goes off you are right at the foot of it.
Not to mention Rainier's greatest hazard doesn't even require it to erupt. It's edifice is so riddled with weaknesses from the hydrothermal fluids circulating throughout it, scientists and regional authorities are concerned that it could simply break loose a big landslide which quickly becomes an enormous mudflow (lahar) like the one that buried Armero, Columbia in 1985. Many of the at-risk communities are sitting right atop the paths of previous mudflows that originated from Rainier's flanks.
I-84 through the Columbia Gorge follows a route of about 30 miles at the foot of Mount Hood. I-5 similarly passes at the foot of Mount Shasta. U.S. Hwy 12 ascends in elevation, passing over a rib of Mount Rainier on the south. Mount St. Helens is the smallest of the four mentioned, and lies about 30 miles east of I-5. And there are other volcanoes. You can't drive anywhere in the northwestern U.S. within 100 miles of the ocean without being in the vicinity.
St Helens is really the goliath among them in terms of explosive events. Cascade volcanism is rather slow for subduction arc stratovolcanoes, but St Helens is prolific and beastly. 1980 was at least an order of magnitude smaller than what it's capable of, it had a massive Pinatubo sized (I think slightly larger actually) a few thousand years ago. Google the Yn tephra. Unlikely to erupt any time soon again. But I'd keep an eye on Three Sisters. South Sister has very broad uplift.
@@FloozieOne It was all over the news when this happened. The NWS in the USA was able to get data from their weather stations and show the pressure wave moving across the country. I’m sure if you did some research you could find the information on this.
Not to upstage you but how about this scale - I live in Poland. 16'000 km in a straight line away from this volcano. My sister's birthday is January 14. I vividly remember joking about not feeling too well over the next couple days after her birthday. Headaches. I am meteopathic - headaches are how I react to changes in pressure due to weather shifts, except weather was stable at that time. A few days later I made the connection - the pressure wave from this volcano circled the world two or three times if I remember correctly. I experienced volcanic headaches on literally the opposite side of the globe. The sheer scale of this explosion is difficult to understate.
Thank you for introducing me to a new word and idea . I’m a biology student and it’s well known that animals react to weather events but I wasn’t aware that there was a term for that.
The peoples of Tonga hold a beautiful spirit about them as a culture. Remote and removed, I can't even imagine how scary it must have been to be isolated from the lockdowns, AND have to survive an eruption of such magnitude. May we all continue to learn about the mysterious nature of our world, and may such knowledge help bring us together and revitalize our humanity. God bless Tonga and the sister volcano. May they stay still for decades to come.
Forgive my ignorance, but when that guy said "we still don't know what caused the tsunami", was I the only one who thought there might just be a link between the massive volcano erupting in the same water that formed the tsunami? I mean, is it really a mystery?
The implication is - it's obviously the volcano, and for two of the tsunami's that matched observations and theories - but the third wave tsunami was worse than the volcano's explosion explains and also didn't occur in phase with any eruptions. Their estimate is the third wave happened due to rebound from when the remains of the caldera collapsed into the empty magma chamber and the ocean flooding into that; Given we're talking about a hole literally miles wide suddenly opening up and getting the ocean poured into it, that's a completely gigantic amount of kinetic energy and also a amount of energy that isn't being directed primarily into the air - it's all confined to the sea. so when it rebounds it's much more efficiently transmuted into the third tsunami, resulting in a 60foot wall of water when that tsunami hits the shallows. You can provoke the same thing on a smaller scale in your bathtub - fill the tub and then fill a bucket in the tub; suddenly yank the bucket out and the water remaining in the tub will splash pretty high up the sides after it fills the resulting void.
I was sitting here thinking the exact same thing 😂 The third tsunami is obviously very mysterious, but the way they were talking about volcanic tsunamis in general made it sound like there are zero hypotheses as to how volcanos are able to ever cause tsunamis. Like, they were making it sound like *all* volcanic tsunamis don't even fit with our current understanding of physics. It was bizarre lmao
Actually, yes. In the Japan tsunami of 2011, it was an underwater landslide, not the earthquake, that caused the tsunami. So it isn't always the elephant in the room. This was a steam explosion because the heat from the magma and the water flashes to steam and expands creating the explosions. It does remind me of Krakatoa where the explosion destroys the visible portion of the volcano. So it may be the collapse of the magma chamber, not the eruption that causes the tsunami.
Very interesting and important production! We should not forget about the island nation of Tonga, and especially the brave resilience of the Tongan people towards this out-of-scale desaster. I had the privilege to spend three months in Tonga during my university years, and i bear great memories of the country and its wonderful people. My heart goes out to this beautiful place and their brave people!
I started watching to learn about a volcano, and discovered a beautiful group of people that I would love to meet. PBS, you are now, and have always been, the greatest.
I stay in a Tongan neighborhood when I visit family in Oahu. Even when traveling alone I feel safe and protected there. I was totally unaware of the tsunami and my heart is broken for those lost and otherwise affected.
Amazing documentation. Fortunately "only" three people were killed by the tsunami. Here in Oregon we're bracing for much worse casualties whenever the Cascadia Subduction Zone tsunami / mega quake happens. Sure would be nice to dedicate our energies to understanding and preventing these dangers instead of wars.
No not all. One of the dumbest opening monologues I have ever hear on a documentary. If you got something out of this then I question your intelligence.
Preventing them? That will never happen. Nothing will stop the Earth from moving when it decides to move. And nothing will save people in the path of these events except not being there, or leaving very quickly when they occur. With millions upon millions of people in the areas that will be in the path of what is coming in Cascadia, there is no hope of a successful evacuation in time to prevent massive loss of life. It may not be for hundreds of years, or it may be tonight.
@@BlackStump172 Girl, humans have been changing the climate for hundreds of years. Science is your friend. Of course, no one can stop a volcano from erupting, but through scientific methods of monitoring, we can be better prepared for future eruptions.
@@BlackStump172 _"We humans cannot change the climate"_ We already do. And not only this is worrysome but also the fact that a big part of Americans are drifting into complete science denial. Praying to the invisible man in the sky won't help us master the challenges of this 21st century. Only science will.
I think we will be learning from this volcano for decades to come. The fact that there's fifty thousand of these around the world is absolutely terrifying I have been fascinated by volcanoes and earthquakes for a long time and this documentary was very informative and interesting great job Nova and PBS!!!🌋🌋🌋🌋
Terrific program! The best thing is that only 3 people died. In the much larger United States, we have a lot to learn from the Tongan community's mutual support and disaster preparedness!
A truly massive explosion. Thank goodness the Tongans are being educated about their volcanoes & tsunami. One interesting takeaway from this documentary is that, as good as satellite observations are, there's still no substitute for investigators being on the ground. Hope Tapua doesn't pop any time soon, so Tonga has a chance to recover.
" Thank goodness the Tongans are being educated about their volcanoes & tsunami." They got educated FAST didnt they! having their lives destroyed and everything they worked hard for all their lives destroyed tends to do that! ANd it WILL happen again, Tonga is a big red bull seye target.
@@HobbyOrganist The education program had begun long before the volcano exploded, which is why few Tongans were killed. The volcano is an active one, in an arc of active volcanos. Of course, some of them will erupt again. But Tonga is these people's home. Just as Vesuvius, Mt. Etna, Sakurajima, Merapi, Popocatepetl, Kilauea, & many other active volcanoes around the world are people's homes. They all live in a bull's-eye.
@@cdfdesantis699 Yes, Vesuvius and Mt. Etna are most interesting as well as the Cascadia Mountain Region in NW, USA. These areas are so heavily populated. It is just amazing the numbers of people willing to live in the shadow of disaster. I cannot remember the name of it, but there is an area in Africa where one of those calderas like Yellowstone lies and exploded killing of course thousands. The ground had barely cooled and there is film footage of people moving right back 'onto' the area of destruction - building on top of the lava. Humans are so interesting.
@@govindagovindaji4662 Friend, I think the African eruption you refer to may have been Mt. Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 2021, yes? I saw the videos as well, of people rebuilding on top of the lava. They did the same thing, when the volcano erupted in 2002. Indeed, we humans tend to like living in the shadow of volcanoes, because of the fertility of the volcanic soil, ideal for crop production. Think the Big Island of Hawaii, with its vast pineapple, coconut, coffee, & macadamia nut plantations, snuggled on the flanks of 4 active volcanoes. I think the volcanic complex that poses the greatest risk to human life is the active Campi Flegrei supervolcano, which Vesuvius is part of. The city of Naples & most of the Bay of Naples actually lie INSIDE the caldera, & over 4 million people in the region are at risk. Rather like the whole of greater New York City in the USA sitting in the middle of the Yellowstone supervolcano caldera. Well, no region on the planet is free of the threat of SOME sort of natural disaster. But folks who live on or in an active volcano have more intestinal fortitude than I do! Thanks much for your reply.
@@cdfdesantis699 Yup, I believe that is the one. You got it! Only I didn't realize it was so recent. Do you recall if this is also the same one where a rectangle shaped area stretches out from the base of the volcano for many acres or miles (don't recall which) and whose perimeter exudes sulfur dioxide? It's low enough that people don't pay attention to it but experts worry about the people who remain there should the gas vapor volume suddenly arise, it would kill them all instantly. It might be a caldera type, like Yellowstone, so they don't realize they are living on it. (I don't see how it could be the same one, since this one is a caldera they can't see, but anyway, that too was in Africa and I'd like to watch that video again.) OH and DEFINITELY Campi Flegrei and Mt. Vesuvius are the ones that fascinate me the most due to the population as you mentioned over 4 million~!!!! Cannot even imagine a disaster that size...but one day, either before or after that civilization itself is gone for other reasons, it will blow. And YELLOWSTONE....my god~!! Though not densely populated, the ash would extend hundreds of miles; I guess true for any of the Super Volcanoes. Godspeed, my friend.
Your graphics explaining subduction and rising magma.... The bit about rocks melting..... Suddenly my college Geology makes sense. It's been 28 years and I finally understand how that works. Shame the professor didn't make it clear.
If your college geology "makes sense" after that then you have a serious problem. The graphic correctly shows the mantle overlying the subducted slab melting rather than the slab itself melting. However the narration is terrible. It implies that it is the heat at that depth causing the melting. Nope. So what's actually going on? Flux melting. The subducted slab has a lot of water present in its structure. Hydrated minerals and the like. When it reaches a particular depth the pressure at that depth causes a structural change in the slab minerals. The minerals become dehydrated and the resulting water has to go somewhere. It goes into the mantle above the slab. That then changes the structure of the mantle rock, lowering its melting point and producing the magma. The water acts as a flux, hence flux melting.
@@davidpnewtonwas going to mention that somewhere in the comments, as I had heard the same thing. It’s not the slab melting, it’s the water molecules that get trapped in the descending crust, get released by the heat, and lower the melting point of the surrounding rock, allowing it to become magma.
I was on a yacht 250 nautical miles north east on the coast of cairns Queensland here in Australia when the volcano erupted and we heard it. Just like a sonic boom from a jet. We didn't know what had happened until we heard from our friends on a boat back at trinity inlet in cairns.
I always find it amusing when documentaries like this open with the question "could it happen again?" because when it comes to natural disasters the answer is always "yes."
Why is no one talking about the effects of large eruptions on the weather. Tonga especially had a huge effect of the weather. And I won't even mention the equinox that seems to cause more eruptions when at or just passed. Are people even looking at these things??
Tonga had little to effect on the weather; as very little sulphuric acid was released. Instead, a lot of water vapor was emitted into several layers of the atmosphere. The only noticeable weather affect was possibly seen in Australia. But mostly, it just created great sunsets in northern Australia.
Unless it's a supereruption like from Yellowstone or Taupo, volcanic eruptions only cause weather effects for a couple of years at most and then only when big like Pinatubo or Krakatoa. And like someone else said, much of the explosive force was from a cubic mile of water flashing into steam. Much less ash than other eruptions and water vapor actually acts like a greenhouse gas in large amounts.
They are considering this event the larget volcanic explosion since Pinatubo on 1991. The plume shown on video footages is eerily similar in shape and size so yeah, this is an extraordinary event.
What a compelling and fascinating story. What a triumph of education. From the Captain who knew to get to deeper water, to the hotel guests who knew to flee quickly, without grabbing anything. A tragedy marked by how many survived to remember it is a miracle I can appreciate.
I just love that volcanologist declared the volcano dormant four days earlier on January 11. lol So to anyone that has impostor syndrome and thinks they're bad at their job just remember it could be far worse.
The Indonesian islands are one of the most active volcanic areas on the planet! I too have studied The 1883 Krakatoa eruption that blew itself apart, created a 120ft Tsunami and sent a shockwave of sound that was heard almost 3000 mikes away and circled the earth 7 times, the power and sheer force was unreal!!!
Thank gawd (insert deity or natural force of your choice) that higher ground was so close to the shore! The steep topography seems to have been a major factor in why Tonga didn't look like Banda Aceh. And how horrifying those sonic booms must have been! That's something we never hear of concerning volcanic eruptions.
the man and his boys probably took the most and experienced one of the most dramatic volcanic eruption and tsunami. anazing footage! thank you for sharing!
When Hurricane Ian hit Port Charlotte Florida the storm surge where I live was only eight feet and it came within inches of flooding into the house. My wife and I were ready to go up into the attic when suddenly the water stopped rising and stablized and then retreated. On the coast in Fort Myers it was not so lucky because the storm surge was 16 feet and swept houses off the foundations. I remember the fear I felt experiencing just an eight foot storm surge. A sixty foot tsunami must have been truly devastatingly frightening.
I'm skeptical of watching it. Lingering questions? What happened? It seems pretty obvious what happened to me. Could it happen again? Of course it could happen again. 5 months, 5 years, 5 centuries-it's more likely than not.
You would be amazed how much plain old water can affect a volcano. Doubt the magma chamber was totally empty and the in rush of sea water as it caved in mixed with the magma to cause one last big bang. Double the impact of both. 1883 eruption of Krakatoa was something similar. The mixing of magma and water.
What a beautiful island. That's some of the bluest water I have ever seen. I hate that there was a loss of life. But I am glad so many more weren't taken.
This was very informative. I can't wrap my head around a wave 6 stories high! it becoming that dark. It knocking people down. Thank God the loss of life was very small. 😢😢😢
Great video! Really good to see some footage of Tofua - one of the least-visited volcanoes in the world from what I can tell. The people of Tonga are *wonderful!* I hope they can rebuild their homes and villages soon. I don't know what's possible there as far as sea-walls are concerned but it would be great if it were possible to build a sea-wall to give some protection against future tsunami.
I didn't hear about this volcano - the press didn't make a big deal out of it but I will watch this NOVA presentation. I have been watching PBS NOVA since I was around 22 back in the early 1970's. Wonderful subjects and put together so well!!!!
Miraculous that only three souls didn't make it (wish it would have been zero, but I digress). This eruption was gigantic and honestly changed the way I look at such geologic events. My goodness, it was enormous.
NZ hearts go out. You are part of our culture and people. I remember when that happened ❤Hopefully one of our volcano's dont go off, Lake Taupo is the scariest option.
This barely made news in the US despite setting records because Tonga is so sparsely populated and it killed less than a dozen people. If it’d hit a city or tourist area, different story!
Here in NZ we heard little about it. Maybe due to covid lockdown etc. Were told it would have little effect on the weather here. We have just had one of the wettest summers on record. When a volcano vomits so much water into the atmosphere it has to come down some where. Thank you PBS for this and I sincerely hope a lot of scientists learn a lot from the volcano and it's effects.
It was headline news on all major websites and was covered quite a lot for months afterwards. I read probably a dozen articles about it on stuff, NZGeo etc Also, no, the volcano had nothing to do with the rainfall in NZ lol. Might have something to do with the massive marine heat waves we've had for the last 4 years though. Or Antarctica being 25 degrees above average during summer.
Iain Foxell - The eruption was big news in the USA where the satellite images were shown over and over. Great concern about the Tongans was expressed given the remoteness and the lockdown. At that point, scientist and rescue workers were in a fever to get there to evaluate the damage. Volcanoes DO cause rain, alright - rains of lava, ash, volcanos glass, and other rocks,, but not water. Clouds release rainwater. Whole different branch of science.
For everyone here; this was the single biggest geological event of your entire life up to this point, and likely for the remainder of your natural life as well. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption is the most powerful eruption of more than a century. And it could be even stronger than that; sadly though, due to how the eruption and volcano are/were mostly underwater, we will likely never know its full strength. Water is still a major obstacle for us.
The Australian Government response was being coordinated closely with France and New Zealand under the FRANZ partnership, alongside Fiji, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States to assist Tonga in its time of need.
This is a prolific documentary you would like to watch from the beginning to the end with a full attention, i like the process of explanation it seems a painstaking labour thanks for this.
A youtuber I follow camped there a few months before the eruption started. The sand was hot standing in shallow water in one spot. They felt it right when leaving. Dior Sheen is her name if you are interested in watching.
Mount Tambora's eruption in 1815 was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. It occurred on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia and lasted for several days.
Then they say Krakatoa was the largest and the loudest sound ever made. The tsunami was 37 meters, 127 feet high and washed a large ship well onto the land.
Great vid👍👏 So with all that ash and vapour entering such high altitude, could it not be a contributor to the abnormal rain season in the many areas...?
I witnessed the Mt.St.Helens eruption in My 1980. I'm a formulation chemist by profession and the great blessing of this eruption for myself as a developer of high strength concrete is the great volume of volcanic pozzolan that can be used to create a great economic resource for the Tongans. If the nation can collect the ash, it is a fantastic additive for low Co2 concrete mfg. But I will be surprised if there is anything done about this great gift.
awesome scientific doco ..i wounder if the 600km deep 8.2 earthqauke in that region 4 yrs ago had something to do with the magma plume for this volcano
Excellent! Thanks. We need to see the whole planet as an ecosystem, connected to the universe. The sun flares, deep earthquakes occur then shallow larger earthquakes and volcanoes occur. Wish we could approach the geological research with a bigger view. 🙏☯️🙏
Well done Program. I would like to know more about how the Volcanos around the world and the Ash and other emissions from them are effecting the weather.
Don't believe for a moment that climate change is the result of people using gasoline! Mother Nature is in charge! More methane is escaping from the sea floor and the permafrost then humans have in a hundred years!
Interesting to see Branko. His wife Ioana is my wife's cousine. That rude disaster actually caused a green growth spurt. Hunga means 'a hump' and there two volcanic humps, one is near the island Ha'apai and the other nearer the island Tongatapu: tapu [taboo] because the King's palace is there on Nuku 'Alofa. Teu foki mai Tongatapu he Siulai - see you then Suka!
An excellent film. It covered so many aspects of this event. Moana is such an articulate and insightful woman. I hope she and her family and friends are well. The footage of Tofua...other worldly.
