Hunga Tonga Volcano Eruption Update; The Island and its Volcano are Gone 

It looks likely to have been a 5

@@jakealter5504 The looks of it don't compare on the amount.

Out of all of the volcanoes in the world to produce a vei 4-5 eruption , I would have never expected Hunga Tonga to be one that did

The low sulfur emissions could be due to a low amount of sulfur in the magma, similar to Novarupta in 1912. The eruption of Novarupta was almost 3x bigger than Pinatubo, yet had negligible climate impacts

@@jeddliannaldo5203 true

I agree. I read that Scottish barometers show the wave pass by twice. Amazing, that is on the other side of the world!

@@chrisdaniels3929 wow!!

We can see methane release from small patches in Siberia i have zero problems believing them recording this event

This phenomenon has been documented for a number of major eruptions in the past 140 years.

Space caught it first.. Gave info to the planet people below🤔🤔

His voice is oddly soothing, lol. New genre: ASMR Geology. This guy could tell me that a supervolcano 5 miles away was about to erupt and melt my face and I would feel quite at ease with the whole situation.

@@VesperAegis you're kidding, this voice is the most irritating I have heard in a long time

@@jamesadams893 - I thought the voice was computer generated at first.

@@jamesadams893 Matter of taste I guess. I love anything that sounds nerdy and more or less passionately dispassionate/curious about a subject.

@@VesperAegis you should you tube microcosomos. That guy has a soothing voice and talks about micro organisms. It's a pretty cool channel too.

This is true, this reminds me a bit of the Oruanui eruption of Taupo, that eruption was massive, but it had a lot of pulses. Scientists believe it started as an effusive eruption that turned explosive.

​@@caiolucas8257 What was startling is that Hunga Tonga seemed to give very little warning before its recent eruption. If this were a caldera-forming eruption (as at least some sources have seemed to suggest), or a part of such an event, I would just hope that the lack of warning is not typical behavior for caldera-forming eruptions. Of course, the term "caldera-forming eruption" normally refers to a VEI 6 or larger eruption, and this particular eruption does not seem to be anywhere near that level. What you have said about Oruanui does seem to make some sense though. While the eruption that formed Oregon's Crater Lake (Mazama) was an order of magnitude smaller than the Oruanui eruption, I do recall reading something that suggested there might have been an effusive eruption of Mazama that immediately preceded its caldera-forming eruption (or was ongoing at the time the caldera-forming eruption started). It makes me wonder if such smaller eruptions do play a role in destabilizing the entire volcanic system.

Will a volcano solve global warming? Let’s find out!

*COUGH COUGH!* YELLOWSTONE

Well there’s been several big 6.0+ earthquakes in the last week between Alaska and Indonesia, pretty sure the eruption was a chain reaction. Keep an eye on earthquake activity around the world and you would be amazed by how many and that no one really reports on them until there’s a tsunami warning!

@@zaneboshoff6210 Yeah, we often get strange currents from far away big earthquakes even when there's no tsunami. I hadn't checked for any new ones the last 2 days.

Greetings from Puna coast of Hawaii's Big Island (other side, from Kona). I'm 3 miles from the coast, but my car's been down, so haven't been able to go out and see the surf - in the past few days. Darn.

@@brahmburgers It was more of a current event than waves. Sounds like maybe the strange currents will continue on and off more than usual.

@@lavapix there was a second eruption today aswell, could be from that.

Its good that the last few months events have occured which riled up discussions about the scale - Both the EF scale and the VEI scale. The mayfield tornado clearly caused EF5 damage on several occasions but due to some opinions and too much contextual views it was rated a high end EF4. Same goes for this eruption, it had the intensity of the pinatubo eruption in 1991 but due to ashfall and tephra released it might be rated far lower than that.

Indeed. The original Fujita scale was meant to bridge the Mach and Beaufort wind velocity scales. But its application has been so mis-applied that people have forgotten that.

No, 'what and how it destroys something' should absolutely not be the measure of the size of an eruption as such a measure would be scientifically useless, it would not say anything about actual data of the eruption itself and would merely be an indicator of how many people live near a volcano.

So true, sea water along with an explosive-style eruption are all it looks like what it takes to cause Krakatoa-level booms, material ejecting into the atmosphere hardly being relevant.

Categorizing is extremely helpful, but can sometimes box in the way a thing is perceived.

Agreed! Incredible.

See - "huge media blackout regarding supermoons" on the net See - "Pole shift of Noah's day about to happen again?" on the net Good journeys All

@@techstuf4637 I've briefly heard about the pole shift few months back

@@craneman42 The sun now rises and sets thousands of miles north of it's old northern limit in summer, at the tropic of cancer which runs through central mexico. The moon now swings through dozens of degrees per month, instead of the old limit of 5 degrees above and below the ecliptic plane per year. Orion jumps through the latitudes un predictably, indicating that not only have earth and moon orbits changed, but we are now wobbling pretty good too. Read - Isaiah 24:20 Read - Luke 21:25-28 Read - Revelation 16:18 Good journeys All

@@techstuf4637 In the past 500 million years earth has been nearly wiped out by by all kind of natural events and now it seems our planet will go through a sixth extinction, I am not sure were religion would fit in any of this.

@@jeffpetrie7744 To each their own. Excellent content, Consistency and accuracy far outweighs any minor/nonexistent issues with his voice.

WOW!! This is fascinating. I love geology but I couldn't identify a rock to save my life.

not just energy…kinetic energy 🙄

@@allegorx58 he said kinetic energy tho

10+ megatons is what their saying so far.

There was even more change under the water. If you look closely at the satellite image at the very beginning of the last big eruption there are clearly two sources. A smaller plume from the crater between the islands arose first, then a much bigger plume erupted from the sea several km to the southeast. There’s likely a brand new crater in the middle of the underwater caldera.

@@seekingtruth8074 No.

Yes, but with a less boring voice, lol!

Has there been dishonest reporting of this event, by comparison?

@@casebarreoltt5990 oh yes, higher sensationalism of magnitude and longer term effects without providing evidence just opinion/assertions. Happens all the time in weather reporting... and geological and astronomical events are typically reported by the same journalist suite.

That would be a dream... but we know sensationalism sells... click magnets... can you truly blame them ( i think so due to morals and integrity, but they have families and bills too)

@@vuchaser99 The thing is that the companies/ad agencies, corporations and Wall Street have, virtually unrestricted and unregulated, turned our media into the circus that it is today. It's not so the people can feed their families, or even buy homes, it's so they have the highest ratings and market share. The people working at the big networks are also getting paid good money to be less than journalistic. To be fair, there is some journalism out there, I just get discouraged when it gets overwhelmed by Jerry Springer type stuff. Life is too short for garbage, lies, and hate based conspiracies to get so much time. ✌️😎

I have an upcoming video on a volcanic feature in Ireland. It formed during a flood basalt eruption complex

@@GeologyHub super look forward to that 👍

Iceland never stay quietly for long .. Amazing place

@@GeologyHub looking forward to hearing about the extinct volcanic past in my backyard in Ireland.

Well until last week I didn’t even know France had a volcano but apparently one is spewing lava over there too!

Usually, everything is taken together. If Hunga Tonga were to have another blast like this one next week, or even next month, they'd be added up together. Compare also Krakatoa's 1883 eruption. It started in April, if I remember correctly, spluttered a little, actually had a decently sized eruption that by itself was probably VEI3, maybe even VEI4, and then became a little less active for most of the summer, only to reach it's climactic phase in August when it blew up completely (the process of which took an entire day all by itself).

The biggest preparedness that needs to take place is the warning system and public education on what to do. Many lives can be saved by just getting the warning out early and having the people flee to higher ground. As seen in Japan, the use of tsunami walls does protect from smaller events but even those were not enough to hold back the water for a major tsunami. The retrofit of existing structures and designs of new structures to survive the initial earthquake can also be of value. But even so, those structures that are in low laying areas in the hazard zones for tsunami waters are going to suffer significant damage or total loss. It is not really just the force of the water, which is significant, but all the debris that the tsunami is carrying that causes most the damage and deaths as people are crushed and drown. I am not aware of any cities in the United States building seawalls or structures in relation to resisting a tsunami.

@@captglenn100 That's what scares me about the next Cascadia earthquake, the public hasn't grasped just how much they _should_ be afraid of it. Most earthquakes that have occurred were very capable of producing wave heights in excess of 10 feet. With 30+ foot wave heights well within the possibilities. Seawalls tall enough to make any difference would never happen, too many people would complain about it ruining the view. Most existing structures would need some type of upgrade to be able to withstand the initial earthquake. Then it would have to be easily accessible and well defined so those nearby can get to it. Most importantly they need to scare the people. They need to make it very clear, if you live in specific areas you will die if you don't know what to do. The Japanese teach their children Tendenko, which instills in them the importance of saving yourself while you have time. You can look for your family afterwards. Many, many families have been found dead together, when if they had run to high ground from their school and places of work they'd all have lived. It goes against everything we are taught growing up, protect your loved ones at all cost. In this case the best thing you can do for each other is follow the evacuation plans and get the heck out of there ASAP.

@@Benson_aka_devils_advocate_88 Sorry, but "scaring" the American people won't work. Experts tried to do that with C0VlD, and the result was superspreader Tru*p rallies, tons of people refusing to wear masks indoors, and antiv@x hysteria that an alarming amount of adults, both young and old, believe. Americans resist anything authoritative, for better or worse. American people won't get scared and respect this sort of thing until _after_ it happens, and even then people will say it's a conspiracy from Bill Gates or something.

In Oregon, coastal cities have increased measures such as signage alerting people which areas are threatened by potential tsunamis and showing escape routes, warning systems and drills. Seaside, Cannon Beach and Tillamook would be particularly prone to damage since these areas are prone to flooding anyway. Tillamook is rather deceiving because it isn't right on the ocean but at the back of a large bay and has a large headland with small communities that do face the ocean and which are easily cut off from the rest of the coast.

@@neo-didact9285 Thank you for exposing your bias.

Probably no one is volunteering to get close enough to find out at this point.

Send in the remote controlled submarines.

the ocean (water) would not have the gas - if any gas is or was trapped, it would be under the sea or the atoll floor... so mostly below sea level.

A thousand year event for THIS specific volcano. That is a key point and should not be conflated to ALL eruptions... and I am not claiming that was your point. I just don't want someone else assuming that based on the comment.

Well I’m just as worried because NZ that’s only 2 hours away from this eruption is ripe with volcanoes and worried this might trigger the sleeping giant Mt Ruaphehu.. it’s way overdue apparently 😬

The Yellowstone hot-spot has a cyclical history with cycles lasting a couple of million years, and it seems to be going into a relatively quiet phase. When it migrates to the east and breaks through the crust in a different spot is when the next big eruption will likely occur, and that will not be not any time soon. Campi Flegrei is a more immediate concern, along with its better-known neighbor. A major metropolitan area is sandwiched between the two.

I have a saying...It is not the volcano you know that is the problem. It is the one you are not aware of that will get you. We know about yellowstone and we're watching it...you know full well that a watched pot never boils!:)

If Yellowstone somehow erupted...I don't think anyone would have time to appreciate it.

Nice question. Now I'm curious about it too.

No.

no water is water, both are instantly turned to steam on contact with volcanic material

I would think so. Salt water has a higher boiling point giving a submarine volcano more time to store up more gas. probably not by that much though.

@@traceruari3143 the few °C don't make much of a difference when it comes into contact with 1100+°C hot magma.

both the 2014 vent and 2021 vent were basically gone hours before the climatic phase

Oh yes - you may well have a valid point. (My chemistry just a BIT rusty after some 50 years!)

Interesting idea. It would mean that the climate effects are also likely less pronounced though, as those are mostly the result of SO2 that remains in the stratosphere, which in this case wouldn't be happening.

While that is definitely a true statement, just look at Krakatoa, that was also an archipelagic volcano around the Pacific Ocean yet that volcano caused global cooling after it's 1883 showdown. A lot of people are comparing both volcanoes for obvious reasons, but the effects are totally different which suggest at the very least that either this eruption had little sulfur in the magma or that the sulfur dissolved to water or it was simply nowhere near Krakatoa's most famous eruption.

@@caiolucas8257 yeah, I'm hoping the world will have at the least a mild "year without a summer" to help the world and animals. But all the steam released also means some global warming from the huge amount of water vapor alone? Somewhere I read that water vapor is a double edged sword in that it can help and hinder the planets temperature depending on the amount. But yeah, this is one amazing event to have happen considering it's size and all the modern scientific technology on standby to analyze everything... But its also amazing because there was very little loss of life! But with that said, my heart goes out to the families of the few fatalities that were reported so far... I wonder if anyone has researched the underwater microphones around the planet to examine the sound wave traveling through the world's oceans yet?

@@GreatDaneLoverz A "year without summer" would devastate wildlife, imagine how many hibernating animals would starve.

@@conorfieber6337 that's why I said a milder version

I tend to agree. The VEI should be an amalgam taking into consideration many different factors. Just measuring the tephra output without considering other factors seems like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

VE doesn't measure explosively, but rather ejected material.

For krakatoa maybe because it was surrounded by big island. That's why it reduced the impact/power. There's no big island in Hunga Tonga. Sorry for my english tho.

Due to antipodal focusing, Krakatau's eruption was loud enough to be faintly audible on the far side of the planet, 12,000 miles away. I don't think this one was that powerful.

Krakatoa was 200 megatons of TNT. Tonga is 10+ megatons

I agree there is still a lot of readings to measure and the usgs is comparing the power of the explosion to pinatubo this was masive

Makes you appreciate how large the Krakatoa Explosion was, if this one was only a 4.

If this eruption had occurred closer to the main islands of Tonga the destruction would have been horrific. Some people were making snide remarks re the relatively small size of the tsunami waves. They obviously don't understand tsunamis and the sheer power driving the waves. A 1.5 metre high Tsunami wave can cause a hell of a lot of damage.

Look forward to spectacular sunrises and sunsets in 2022.

Ok take all the land formed from 2014- Jan 11th 2022 and then send all that land sliding southward during an unusally large eruption on Jan 13th with whats left destroyed by the climatic phase of this blast thats 95% of the island gone

@@KaiserStormTracking 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀the island is gone🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

The smoke was white and dirty , not ashy as if a volcano erupted. This was a man made explosion in my opinion

Someone will be along before too long to compare the energy release in terms of megatons. Take the resulting number(s) with a huge amount of salt.

10+ megatons is what they are saying. Mt St Helens was 26 megatons. Krakatoa was 200 megatons of TNT.

The height that the sulfur emissions are ejected to is also important. I believe that low level SO2 can actually cause warming, where in the upper atmosphere it is cooling.

It also depends on the location of the eruption. Large eruptions near the equator have a much greater effect on the global climate than eruptions near the poles, mostly due to the fact that much more energy from the Sun is absorbed in the tropics

I wonder how much SO2 got dissolved into the ocean water. With the concern of acid rain contaminating Tonga water supplies, that local acidification has to be measurable.

Yeah another volcano with abnormal sulfur dioxide levels, though in this case we can only estimate what was within the associated ice core layers, is Mt. Paektu's 946 eruption which studies of the ammount and dispersal of its volcanic ash reveal to have been a VEI of 7 yet there is virtually no sulfur dioxide present in the associated ice cores. Of course Given Mt. Paektu's unique geological setting and magmatic source (i.e. it is a hydrous plume derived from the stagnant subducted pacific slab causing the Mantle Transition Zone to reach super saturation of water rich mineral hydrates which have a lower density than the surrounding mantle rock driving them to ascend to the surface. The eruptions historical nature means we don't have a precise estimate for the amount of water in its magma but given the geological setting it is likely quite high. The eruption also closely matches the timing onset of the Medieval warm period which research models have linked to abnormally warm conditions in the northern Pacific which is the direction which the wind carried the volcanoes eruptive plume. These two results can naturally be both explained if the vast majority of the magma's sulfur dioxide reacted with the water vapor within the eruption plume to form sulfuric acid which then rained out across Japan and the Northern Pacific upsetting the carbon cycle in the Northern Pacific. As the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano occurred at sea level with direct reaction to water vapor it is likely that the plume could be severely depleted in terms of the amount of sulfur dioxide meaning the volcano may have been much stronger than indicated by sulfur dioxide content in the plume. On a related note the magmatic composition of Mt. Paektu actually closely matches the chemical composition of large continental Flood Basalts seen during the break up phase of supercontinents (i.e. Siberian traps, Central Atlantic Magmatic Province etc.) thus the extremely high water vapor content suggested by seismic tomography and the associated geological setting indicates water vapor may have helped explain why there was such an abnormally strong climatic warming climate proxies indicate occurred since water vapor is an extremely potent greenhouse gas.

In comparison to Krakatoa(best case is 2018 due to the similarites) is that both were unstable due to earlier caldera building eruptions(roughly 1180 CE for Hunga Tonga and 1883 for Krakatoa) both expanded to the point that they were prone to flank collapse(which ended up happening and ironically both generated a tsunami) and then afterwards generated moderate to large steam driven blasts In a 1883 comparison id say its similar but you can't compare them. way to many differnces

Very possible. Eruptions have been more frequent than ever and at this point it's likely we might see something similar to Tambora.