Jimu news reporter Song Qingying
In the early morning of January 15, local time, a huge explosion occurred at the Hapayee submarine volcano in Tonga Hongga, and a tsunami followed. The eruption caused tonga communications to be interrupted and the entire country lost contact with the world. Tsunami warnings were issued for much of the Pacific, including New Zealand, Japan and the United States.
On the evening of the 16th, after preliminary verification by the Chinese Embassy in Tonga, there were no reports of casualties of Chinese citizens.
Experts said that the power of this eruption can be described as "once in a thousand years", and the volcano may erupt again in the next few days.
Volcanic eruption in Tonga (Image: National Geographic)
Volcanoes erupt rarely, "once in a millennium"
The Hunga Hapay Volcano, which consists of two uninhabited islets located 65 km north of the capital of Tonga, Nuku'alofa, at an altitude of about 100 meters.
According to National Geographic, last 12 years, the Hunga Hapayee volcano has begun to erupt because it is not too intense and has not attracted the attention of locals.
In the early morning of January 15, a huge explosion occurred in the volcano. According to Finnish weather measurement company Vaisala, the sonic boom from the eruption radiated from Tonga to parts of New Zealand 1,300 miles away and as far as the United Kingdom 10,000 miles away.
Subsequently, a tsunami hit The Tonga capital, Nuku'alofa, inundated streets and people fled for their lives. The tsunami affected parts of the Pacific Northwest, and minor tsunami waves were also recorded at weather stations in California, Mexico and parts of South America.
From the evening of the 14th to the early morning of the 15th, the volcano completed 200,000 gas eruptions in one hour. By comparison, Indonesia's volcanoes in 2018 produced only 340,000 eruptions in a single week.
Due to the huge explosion of the volcano, on the morning of the 15th, satellite images showed that the middle of the volcanic island had even disappeared.
The eruption was so rare that scientists even thought it would "happen every millennium," says volcanologist Janine Krippner, who for Tonga "is a potentially devastating event."
Located in a volcanic belt, new islands have erupted
Tonga Volcano (Image: ABC)
Scientists interpret that Tonga is located in the South Pacific region, because the Pacific Plate continues to dive under the Australian tectonic plate, so there are a large number of volcanoes here.
The Hunga Hapayee volcano is not the only volcano that threatens Tonga and the Pacific Ocean, nor is it the largest. There is a huge volcano basically every 100 kilometers along the Pacific chain of volcanoes.
The earth's crust is moving so much that these volcanoes are very active and can even erupt to form new islands.
Volcanic eruptions in Tonga were seen as early as 1912, and between 2014 and 2015, volcanic eruptions formed a new island.
But scientist Kaplan Auerbach said such a strong explosion and powerful tsunami coming from this single, relatively small volcanic island "illustrates the astonishing power of this eruption."
Jackie Kaplan-Auerbach, a seismologist and volcanologist at West Washington University in Bellingham, said there is currently not enough data to determine the exact cause of the tsunami.
Since much of the volcano is submerged underwater, scientists need time to collect more data before they can draw conclusions.
The lives of 100,000 people in Tonga are uncertain, and there are no reports of casualties among Chinese citizens
Tonga has about 105,000 people, about a quarter of whom live in the capital, and now they are surrounded by volcanic ash and tsunamis. Due to the interruption of internet access after the eruption of the volcano, it is almost impossible to obtain casualty information.
Internet in Tonga travels over submarine cables in Suva, Fiji, which may have been damaged themselves, or blackouts.
According to NBC, an undersea volcano erupting near Tonga could erupt again in a matter of days.
The team of Dr Shane Cronin, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Auckland, believes that the volcano erupts with an unusually violent eruption about every 1,000 years or so. The most recent major eruption was around 1100 AD, and then now.
Dr. Cronin predicts that while the eruptions are very large, "more and more" eruptions may follow.
Dr Cronin said the entire crater was destroyed by the eruption, "and this very large eruption and tsunami show that the top of the volcano has collapsed." ”
According to measurements, the part of the volcano hidden on the seabed is about 1800 meters high and about 20 kilometers wide.
Kronen believes that there is less gas-rich magma left in the volcano, and the volcano has become deeper than before. As they get deeper, future eruptions should be at the bottom of the ocean.
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