00:00On January 14, 2022, residents of Anchorage, Alaska, heard a series of loud bangs.
00:08They didn't stop for a half an hour.
00:10As they found later, the source of the bangs was almost 6,000 miles away, in the Tongan
00:16Archipelago in the Southern Pacific Ocean.
00:26The Hunga Tonga underwater volcano abruptly woke up from its sound sleep.
00:32It last erupted at the end of December 2021 after several years of inactivity.
00:37Hunga Tonga sent a large plume of ash into the stratosphere that was seen in the capital
00:43city of Tonga, 43 miles away from the volcano.
00:47In the following days, it was emitting steam and gas to the height of 7 miles.
00:52Plus, it was letting out ash that accumulated next to it and even made the island on which
00:57it was standing increase in size.
01:00Then it went back to sleep, and the officials even announced it was dormant.
01:05But just a couple of weeks later, it woke up again with a crazy force.
01:11It sent ash clouds 12 miles into the atmosphere.
01:15It blocked the sun in some places, and rained down from the sky.
01:19The sound waves from the eruption traveled around the planet several times.
01:24People in Fiji heard a sound that reminded them of thunder.
01:27Some booms even reached Canada.
01:30Shock waves went around the Earth four times in Japan and Utah, and at least twice in Massachusetts.
01:37The eruption caused tens of thousands of lightning flashes.
01:41It also triggered a mega-tsunami hundreds of feet high.
01:44It caused damage to buildings and infrastructure, such as underwater cables.
01:49The extreme waves traveled all the way to the California coast, and there was an unusually
01:54high tide along the Pacific coast of Canada.
01:58Scientists studied seismic data to understand what caused such a massive eruption.
02:03Their research model showed that there was a big blast, likely because gas got trapped
02:08in rocks, like how a pressure cooker works when it's overcooked.
02:13This blast released a huge amount of energy, as much as five of the biggest underground
02:17nuclear tests.
02:19It all happened under a shallow part of the sea, where gas-filled rock was trapped.
02:30Normally when a volcano erupts, the fumes cause a temporary cooling effect on the Earth's
02:35surface.
02:36But Hunga Tonga's eruption was different.
02:38It didn't produce many fumes, but released a massive amount of water vapor, equal to
02:4460,000 Olympic swimming pools.
02:46The intense heat of the eruption turned vast amounts of seawater into steam, which then
02:51blasted high into the atmosphere.
02:54All that water vapor ended up in the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere that's too dry
02:58to form clouds or rain.
03:01Scientists don't have any observations of volcanic eruptions like Hunga Tonga to predict
03:05its long-term effects on our weather patterns.
03:08This is because the only way to measure stratospheric water vapor is with special satellites, which
03:14have only been around since 1979, and there hasn't been an eruption similar to Hunga
03:19Tonga in that time.
03:21In fact, the Tonga eruption is the most well-recorded blast of its kind in recent history.
03:27Scientists had lots of tools to study it, like satellites that took pictures from space
03:32and sensors that listened to the vibrations and movements in the Earth.
03:36There was a similar eruption in 1991 at a volcano in the Philippines, but back then,
03:41they didn't have as many advanced tools as they do now to study it closely.
03:47Experts from different countries looked at satellite data right after the Hunga Tonga
03:51eruption.
03:52They wanted to find out how long water vapor would stay in the stratosphere, where it would
03:57go, and, of course, what this would mean for the planet and for all of us.
04:02The first big result of the eruption, at least partially, was a huge hole in the stratosphere
04:07that was hanging on for several months in 2023.
04:11By the time it appeared, the water vapor had reached the polar stratosphere over Antarctica.
04:17But Hunga Tonga ended up with just a minimal effect on global average temperatures, at
04:22least for now.
04:23Let's just hope it won't repeat the story of Mount Tambora volcano in present-day Indonesia.
04:29Over two centuries ago, in 1815, this bad guy interrupted and caused the year without
04:35a summer.
04:36In the following year, the winter was unusually cold and wet across Europe and North America.
04:42There were also some catastrophic tsunamis, destroying homes that took 10,000 lives and
04:4780,000 more who fell ill in the aftermath.
04:51You can't miss an event like Hunga Tonga or Tambora eruption, but some underwater volcanoes
04:57are discovered by accident.
04:59A passenger on a commercial flight looked out her window above the Pacific Ocean and
05:03saw a weirdly colored patch on the water.
05:06She thought it could be an oil slick or a floating pumice raft, which is a tell-tale
05:11sign of a recent volcanic eruption.
05:13She decided to send a photo of this scene to a geologist.
05:17And that's how scientists found one of the largest volcanoes in the world, Havre,
05:22is hiding about 3,000 feet below the surface.
05:26In 2012, Havre had a massive eruption that lasted about 90 days.
05:31Hot lava poured out of 14 different vents around the volcano's semi-circle-shaped
05:36opening.
05:37Havre is just one of many volcanic systems covered by thousands of feet of water.
05:42These volcanoes are the most active on Earth and are part of a giant system called mid-ocean
05:47ridges that stretches around the world.
05:50This system produces about 75% of all the magma that comes out of Earth's volcanoes
05:55each year.
05:56It releases over half a cubic mile of lava.
06:00When the magma cools down, it forms the edges of new ocean plates, which are like giant
06:04puzzle pieces that make up the Earth's crust.
06:08A team of scientists studied material left on the ocean floor by volcanic eruptions from
06:13the Bronze Age.
06:14About 3,600 years ago, a volcano that was partly underwater in the southern Aegean Sea
06:21woke up with a bang.
06:23This eruption destroyed the island of Santorini and sent massive amounts of ash, rocks, and
06:29gases into the air.
06:30It left behind thick layers of ash and rock that settled in piles on the ocean floor.
06:36Scientists have been studying the ancient Santorini eruption for several years to figure
06:40out what happens during such massive ones.
06:43Their research helps explain how future volcanic eruptions could affect the weather on our
06:48planet.
06:50The study also helps scientists understand the strength of the eruptions, how high the
06:55eruption columns might go, and the sizes of the waves that form when all that ash and
07:00rock settles into terraces on the ocean floor.
07:03This information will help predict the dangers of future eruptions.
07:08When a volcano erupts, the last place you want to be is inside it, but scientists did
07:14it for you.
07:15Well, kinda.
07:16They produced a smart new imaging technique that uses the best ideas from medical imaging
07:22and optical telescopes.
07:24Matrix imaging, that's what it's called, makes it easier to understand what's happening
07:28underground, even when there aren't many sensors available.
07:32These sensors, called geophones, detect and record the movement of seismic waves, which
07:37are vibrations that travel through the Earth.
07:40By studying these waves, scientists can learn about the distinct types of rocks and how
07:45they are arranged beneath the surface.
07:48The researchers test their method on a volcano in Guadalupe in the Caribbean Sea.
07:53There aren't so many geophones on this site, but the scientists combine the data from multiple
07:57geophones thanks to this new tech.
08:00They used a special trick called the memory effect to reverse the distortions that happen
08:05when seismic waves bounce off different underground materials and figure out what the original
08:10signals look like.
08:12The researchers could clearly see the structure inside the volcano, down to a depth of about
08:17six miles, with incredibly detailed images in a resolution of over 300 feet.
08:23They found out that there are many layers of magma stored underground.
08:28These layers are connected to other deep parts of the Earth.
08:31Knowing about these layers and how they work could help scientists make better guesses
08:36about when a volcano might erupt.
08:38If they can do that, they might be able to warn people earlier and keep them safe from
08:44dangerous eruptions.
08:46That's it for today!
08:49So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
08:53friends!
08:54Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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