Using methods similar to those used to study a storm, researchers uncovered horrific information about the volcanic eruption in Hunga Tonga. It was determined that the ash cloud formed by the explosion rose up to the mesosphere, where only a few exploration vehicles could reach, and spread over a large area from the state of Georgia.
In the past days, we mentioned that many living things lost their lives due to the oil spill that occurred as a result of the explosion of the Hunga Tonga volcano in Tonga. After the explosion, a 90-day emergency was declared in Peru and it was said that the oil spill could adversely affect the health of the public.
It has been announced that the explosion of the Hunga Tonga volcano is 600 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on the city of Hiroshima and is equivalent to about 10 megatons of TNT explosive. NASA shared modern satellite images of this explosion on January 15. Scientists say the explosion caused the largest ash cloud ever recorded.
The height of the ash plume extended into the mesosphere, where only a few rovers could reach it.
NASA scientists announced that the ash cloud formed by the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’pai underwater volcano rose about 58 kilometers, two and a half times higher than any storm ever recorded. The largest ash cloud ever observed before the Tonga eruption was the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991, which ejected ash up to 35 kilometers into the atmosphere over the Philippines. The ash cloud caused by the Tonga eruption is one and a half larger than the ash cloud left behind by this eruption.
The ash plume from the Tonga eruption spans 157,000 square kilometers, meaning it covers an area larger than the US state of Georgia. While passenger planes were able to fly in the stratosphere between 9-12 kilometers, the ash cloud rose up to the mesosphere, which only a few sounding rockets and high-altitude balloons could reach.
The explosion affected more than 100,000 people, while many sea creatures died. Rescue efforts for the tsunami caused by the explosion continue. United Nations officials say they need $90 billion to rebuild Tonga, but more may be needed.
