TONGA ERUPTION EQUIVALENT TO HUNDREDS OF HIROSHIMAS, NASA SAYS

Tue 25 January 2022:

The volcanic eruption in Tonga, according to NASA, produced explosive forces equivalent to up to 30 million tonnes of TNT – hundreds of times more than the atomic bomb detonated on Hiroshima.

On January 15, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai undersea volcano in the South Pacific erupted, sending debris as high as 25 miles into the sky.

It created tidal waves that smashed into the island, engulfing it in ash and isolating it off from outside help.

It engulfed the island kingdom of 100,000 people in a coating of toxic ash, contaminating the water supply, killing crops, and obliterating at least two villages.

It also emitted between 5 and 30 megatons (5 million to 30 million tonnes) of TNT equivalent, according to NASA Earth Observatory.

The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945 was believed to be roughly 15 kilotons (15,000 tonnes) of TNT.

Only minor sections of two Tongan islands — Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai — remain above the volcano, according to radar measurements taken before and after the eruption last month.

According to scientists, Mount St. Helens exploded with 24 megatons of energy in 1980, while Krakatoa burst with 200 megatons of energy in 1883.

On NASA Earth Observatory digital elevation maps, the huge changes at Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, the uppermost segment of a gigantic underwater volcano, are also visible.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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