The power of the Tonga volcano that erupted violently on January 15, 2022, so that many friends are impressed by the majestic power from nature, comprehensive information from all aspects and existing videos and pictures, Tonga volcano this time can be called "epic" eruption, the location of the big eruption of hong aha apay island has been mostly in the explosion has been destroyed, the dynamic map can be clearly seen that when the volcano erupted like a giant nuclear explosion shock wave quickly extended thousands of kilometers away, Although the attenuated shock wave is not visible on the dynamic map, it can still be seen after special color treatment that it continues to expand, so that it surrounds the entire earth, which can be said to create a "universal shock wave". The loud bang of the explosion could be heard 2,000 kilometers away in New Zealand and Australia, and even weather forecasters in Alaska, North America, claimed to have heard the sonic boom from the eruption.
The atmospheric pressure changes caused by volcanic eruptions are also very large, once spawned a lower pressure than the center of the typhoon, the resulting air pressure waves also surrounded the entire earth's atmosphere, weather stations across china have measured the change in air pressure, the curve is surprisingly similar, even in the United Kingdom on the other side of the earth have monitored obvious changes in air pressure.
The tsunami triggered by the volcanic eruption swept through the entire Pacific Ocean, and even the North American coast and the Japanese archipelago thousands of miles away had a tsunami wave of about 1 meter; a tsunami of two meters high was detected in the coastal area of Chile in South America 3,000 kilometers away; although there are many islands in China's coast, the wave changes are still monitored in the Ningbo area of Zhejiang Province.
As for the current situation in the kingdom of Tonga? Reports say that their domestic communications have been interrupted and are largely out of touch, but the latest news is that the media is using mobile devices to release information about the disaster area, after reports of the king of Tonga evacuating the palace and a large number of refugees flocking to the highlands to escape the tsunami.
As for the situation near the volcano? I am sorry! As of now, the situation is still missing, and because of the dense volcanic clouds in the sky, the satellites in space cannot observe, and we do not know anything about the situation of Hong Aha Apai Island in the core area of the volcanic eruption, but there are clairvoyant remote sensing satellites that have measured that the volcanic eruption has collapsed the island. The picture below shows the geomorphological changes of the volcanic islands before and after the eruption of the Tonga volcano.
Volcanic eruptions of this level are extremely rare, and relevant experts believe that the eruption of Tonga may reach VEI-6, but looking at the scene of the VEI-6 eruption of Pinatubo Volcano in the Philippines on June 15, 1991, it is not comparable to the scale of the eruption of Tonga Volcano, pinatubo Volcano at that time The smoke column erupted was as high as 40 kilometers, and the mountain peak was also collapsed 300 meters, the scale is already quite large, but from the volcanic cloud coverage area, The shock wave power and explosion noise are far from the Tonga volcano, and the scale of the Tonga volcanic eruption should be said to be greater than that of the Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines 30 years ago.
We still measure the scale of the Tonga volcano eruption in terms of VEI-6, how much energy is it? This first requires knowing how the level of the eruption is divided. The current common volcanic classification method divides volcanic eruptions into 8 levels from low to high according to the ejecta and energy consumed, and like the magnitude of earthquakes, the higher the volcanic eruption level means that the greater the energy released, and the energy consumed by each additional level is usually 10 times that of the previous level.
The eruption volume of VEI-1 volcanic eruptions is about 0.00001 to 0.001 cubic kilometers, and the height of the erupting ash column is generally below 1 kilometer. The energy released is equivalent to a magnitude 6.6 earthquake; on this basis, the volume and energy consumption of the ejecta increase by 10 times for each additional level of the volcanic eruption, and by the eruption of VEI-6, the volume of the ejecta is 10 to 100 cubic kilometers, and the energy consumption is equivalent to the energy released by the earthquake of magnitude 9 or above, and the energy released by the magnitude 9 earthquake can reach 10 billion tons of TNT explosion energy, equivalent to the explosive equivalent of more than 70,000 atomic bombs, as can be referred to the Great East Japan Earthquake (9.0 on the Richter scale) on March 11, 2011 and the Indian Ocean Earthquake in southwestern Sumatra, Indonesia, which caused the Indian Ocean tsunami on March 26, 2004 (Richter 9). .3 level).
Perhaps a friend said that the earthquake level caused by the eruption of the Tonga volcano is not large, I have not heard how much earthquake has occurred in the local area, this is actually because the volcano and the earthquake energy release form is not the same, the energy release of the earthquake is mainly conducted in the crust, which will cause a certain range of ground vibrations, but the release energy of the volcano is mainly in the form of volcanic ash and lava eruption, most of the energy is released upwards in the atmosphere, the explosion and shock wave are actually just by-products, so we can not feel the larger vibration, But large-scale volcanic eruptions create natural disasters that are much larger than earthquakes.
Because earthquakes release energy through ground fluctuations, they are usually caused by buildings or mountains collapsing, and the epicenter is located in the sea, there will be a tsunami, but it will only affect the coastal areas. But the large-scale volcanic eruption is not the same, it will release a large amount of sulfur dioxide and volcanic ash into the atmosphere, these things gradually form aerosols in stratospheric drifting throughout the earth, resulting in a decrease in atmospheric transparency, can illuminate the ground of sunlight will be reduced, the earth's surface temperature will be reduced, it is obvious that this is not conducive to the growth of crops and other plants, crop yield reduction will cause human society to lack of food, some people may be hungry, and plant growth is blocked, not only for plants, but also for animals lack of food, So a massive volcanic eruption would be a disaster for all life on Earth.
On June 15, 1991, the eruption of the Peñatubo Volcano VEI-6 in the Philippines caused the Earth's temperature to be below the average temperature of 0.5 ° C in two years, but it is clear that the eruption of The Tonga Volcano is larger than the Pinatubo Volcano in scale, although there is no specific data in all aspects, but from the various performances at the time of the eruption alone, it can be judged that the Tonga Eruption is not comparable to the Pinatubo Volcano, and even some people have compared it with the Tambora Eruption on April 5, 1815, which is considered to be the only VEI-7 volcano eruption in hundreds of years, with a loud sound of thousands of kilometers and volcanic ash spreading around the world In the summer of 1816, people did not feel the feeling of summer at all, this year and the following 1817 are also known as the "year without summer", the southern region of Our country experienced a winter-like weather in June 1816, and Europeans also recorded that year as the "Year of Freezing To Death". It can be seen that large-scale volcanic eruptions have a greater negative impact on life on Earth than large-scale earthquakes.
The scale of the Tonga eruption exceeds that of Pinatubo Volcano, then it will be the largest volcanic eruption in 207, and earthquakes of about 9 magnitude on the Richter scale will occur every 10 years on the earth, but this Tonga volcanic eruption is once in 200 years, and the volcanic eruption of this scale is more harmful to the earth's organisms than the nine-magnitude earthquake.
While Tonga is still in the process of releasing energy, the nearby Suva Seismic Observatory in Fiji has observed a renewed trend of seismic activity near the Tonga volcano, indicating that the volcano may erupt again in the short term. As for what kind of impact it will have on the global climate, we will be able to wait and see.
Resources:
"Dahe Newspaper Yu Video" January 16, 2022 video "Tonga lost contact with the outside world, 3 people were caught in the torrent before the tsunami, and the rolling belt climbed thrilling escape"
"Look at the News" January 16, 2022 article "Tonga's 'epic' volcanic eruption, the first wave of tsunami has reached many countries"