Recently, the South Pacific Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano erupted violently, followed by a black globular volcanic cloud straight into the sky, followed by volcanic ash scattered hundreds of kilometers away, submarine cables were destroyed, the kingdom of Tonga instantly lost contact with the outside world, mobile phone signals were interrupted, and power supply stopped.
Tonga is an island nation of just 100,000 people with more than 170 small islands in the South Pacific, while Fonuafo'ou, the main island of the Kingdom of Tonga, is located in the northwest direction of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano, with a straight-line distance of about 30 kilometers.
Volcanic eruptions have dealt a heavy blow to the entire kingdom of Tonga, knowing that this is a major eruption once in 30 years, the shock waves have spread thousands of miles away, and the volcanic eruption in Tonga may have an impact on the global climate.
New Zealand and Australia are sending monitoring aircraft to assess the extent of damage to the Kingdom of Tonga, taking multiple aerial photographs, previously reported that no casualties have been detected for the time being, and now it is certain that at least one person is dead and two are missing.
So what changes have taken place when the Tangjia Volcano erupted? There were 400,000 lightning bolts in 12 hours over the volcano, and freshly baked aerial photos showed that the 2-kilometer-long island had disappeared and the kingdom of Tonga had turned into a gray-black world.
The 2 km long island disappeared
Meteorological satellites in outer space focused their lenses on the Tonga volcano, tracked the development of the volcano, and found that the 2-kilometer-long island connecting Hunga-Tonga and Hunga-Ha'apai volcanoes had disappeared, which showed how powerful the eruption was at that time.
Thirteen years ago, Hunga-Tonga and Hunga-Ha'apai volcanoes were originally two volcanoes, and an eruption in 2009 formed a new land on the surface of the water, followed by a major eruption in January 2015, forming an island about 2 kilometers long between the two volcanoes.
Before January 15, 2022, the hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano, which was connected together, looked like a huge "bat map", but now it is separated again and has become two isolated volcanoes, which seems to confirm the truth that "long time must be combined, and long time must be divided".
Tonga volcano 400,000 lightning bolts in 12 hours
After the eruption of Tonga Volcano, meteorological satellites closely monitored the volcano, and lightning data from Vaisala showed that lightning was constantly flashing in the spherical volcanic cloud over Tonga Volcano, recording 400,000 lightning strikes in 12 hours, volcanic clouds soaring upwards, and lightning continuously, as if the "end of the world" had arrived.
In fact, the appearance of lightning in volcanic clouds is a normal phenomenon, known as "volcanic lightning", from a scientific point of view, volcanic eruptions of volcanic clouds are very similar to thunderstorms in the sky, volcanic clouds also contain a large amount of water vapor.
Volcanic clouds are cold during the take-off process, water vapor forms ice crystals of the lens, fragments collide and rub with ice crystals, generating an electric charge, because the weight of the fragments and ice crystals is different, naturally separated during the ascent process, when the charge accumulates to a certain extent, it discharges each other, producing lightning.
In addition, volcanic clouds themselves are charged when they erupt, and the fragmentation of rocks and the friction of magma with craters will make volcanic clouds charged.
Latest aerial photo: Kingdom of Tonga turns gray-black
On 17 January, New Zealand sent a reconnaissance plane to assess the extent of the damage to Tonga, and it was found that almost all of Tonga's land and trees were covered in a thick layer of ash, and the former green vegetation was now gray-black, as if it were taking black and white photographs.
Aerial photographs of the New Zealand reconnaissance aircraft are in stark contrast to previous satellite images, with a green world on one side that looks beautiful and a gray-black world after a volcanic eruption on the other, covered in a large amount of volcanic ash, losing its former colors, as if the "end of the world" is coming.
Aerial photographs show that in the kolomotua, Tongatapu, Kolofo'ou and Fafaa areas, some buildings collapsed due to prolonged ground shaking. Analysis of Nokijima satellite images found that almost all visible structures were covered in ashes, and about 40% of the construction structures were destroyed.
At Fuamotu International Airport, the airstrip has been flooded by seawater, and places that have not been flooded by seawater are also covered by a thick layer of volcanic ash, and if Fuamotu International Airport is not restored, it means that international aid cannot reach Tonga normally.
Aerial photographs also show that the volcanic clouds over Tongado have not yet dispersed, and the air quality is worrying with black smoke everywhere. Because volcanic clouds block sunlight, some have even proposed the idea of a "year without summer", which is limited despite the impact on the climate.
At last
Covered with a large amount of volcanic ash, the people of the King of Tonga have become a gray-black world, the ground is shaking and the sea water is poured back, food and water have been polluted, coupled with the interruption of communications, what kind of situation is in the Kingdom of Tonga, the outside world does not know, but it must be very bad.
Due to severe communication restrictions, many Communities of Tongan expatriates are desperately waiting for news from their families, but it may take weeks as soon as a few weeks to repair the submarine cables. Interesting and informative scientific content, please pay attention to the only WeChat public account: Interesting Exploration