This 2022 Eruption Was So Underrated, It Left Scientists Baffled

Bright Side

Did you know there was an eruption in 2022 so wild it had scientists scratching their heads? 🌋 It happened underwater when the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in the Pacific Ocean erupted with a force so massive, it sent shockwaves around the globe—literally. The eruption created an ash plume that soared higher than any we've ever seen, even into space, and it triggered a tsunami that rippled across oceans. 🌊 What left everyone baffled was the sheer amount of water vapor the volcano blasted into the atmosphere, potentially affecting weather patterns for years. Experts say this eruption was one of the most powerful in over a century, yet so many people barely heard about it!

Transcript

00:00On January 14, 2022, residents of Anchorage, Alaska heard a series of loud bangs.

00:07They didn't stop for a half an hour.

00:10As they found later, the source of the bangs was almost 6,000 miles away

00:15in the Tongan Archipelago in the Southern Pacific Ocean.

00:18The Hunga Tonga underwater volcano abruptly woke up from its sound sleep.

00:31It 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 city of Tonga,

00:4443 miles away from the volcano.

00:46In 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

00:55and even made the island on which it was standing increase in size.

01:00Then it went back to sleep.

01:02And the officials even announced it was dormant.

01:05But just a couple of weeks later, it woke up again with a crazy force.

01:10It sent ash clouds 12 miles into the atmosphere.

01:14It 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.

01:23People 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,

01:33and at least twice in Massachusetts.

01:35The eruption caused tens of thousands of lightning flashes.

01:40It 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,

01:53and there was an unusually high tide along the Pacific coasts of Canada.

01:57Scientists studied seismic data to understand what caused such a massive eruption.

02:02Their research model showed that there was a big blast,

02:06likely because gas got trapped in rocks,

02:09like how a pressure cooker works when it's overcooked.

02:12This blast released a huge amount of energy,

02:15as much as five of the biggest underground nuclear tests.

02:19It all happened under a shallow part of the sea,

02:22where gas-filled rock was trapped.

02:23Now, normally, when a volcano erupts,

02:32the fumes cause a temporary cooling effect on the Earth's surface.

02:36But Hunga Tonga's eruption was different.

02:38It didn't produce many fumes,

02:40but released a massive amount of water vapor,

02:43equal to 60,000 Olympic swimming pools.

02:46The intense heat of the eruption turned vast amounts of seawater into steam,

02:50which then blasted high into the atmosphere.

02:53All that water vapor ended up in the stratosphere,

02:56a layer of the atmosphere that's too dry to form clouds or rain.

03:00Scientists don't have any observations of volcanic eruptions like Hunga Tonga

03:05to predict its long-term effects on our weather patterns.

03:08This is because the only way to measure stratospheric water vapor

03:12is with special satellites,

03:14which have only been around since 1979.

03:16And there hasn't been an eruption similar to Hunga Tonga in that time.

03:21In fact, the Tonga eruption is the most well-recorded blast of its kind in recent history.

03:26Scientists had lots of tools to study it,

03:29like satellites that took pictures from space

03:31and sensors that listened to the vibrations and movements in the Earth.

03:35There was a similar eruption in 1991 at a volcano in the Philippines.

03:40But back then,

03:41they didn't have as many advanced tools as they do now to study it closely.

03:45Experts from different countries looked at satellite data

03:50right after the Hunga Tonga eruption.

03:52They wanted to find out how long water vapor would stay in the stratosphere,

03:56where it would go,

03:57and, 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,

04:05was a huge hole in the stratosphere

04:07that was hanging on for several months in 2023.

04:10By the time it appeared,

04:12the water vapor had reached the polar stratosphere over Antarctica.

04:16But Hunga Tonga ended up with just a minimal effect

04:20on global average temperatures, at least for now.

04:23Let's just hope it won't repeat the story of Mount Tambora volcano

04:26in present-day Indonesia.

04:29Over two centuries ago, in 1815,

04:31this bad guy interrupted and caused the year without a summer.

04:35In the following year, the winter was unusually cold and wet

04:39across Europe and North America.

04:41There were also some catastrophic tsunamis,

04:44destroying homes that took 10,000 lives

04:46and 80,000 more who fell ill in the aftermath.

04:51Now, you can't miss an event like Hunga Tonga or Tambora eruption,

04:55but some underwater volcanoes are discovered by accident.

04:58A passenger on a commercial flight

05:00looked out her window above the Pacific Ocean

05:03and saw a weirdly colored patch on the water.

05:06She thought it could be an oil slick

05:08or a floating pumice raft,

05:10which is a tell-tale sign 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

05:19one of the largest volcanoes in the world,

05:21Havre.

05:22It's hiding about 3,000 feet below the surface.

05:26In 2012, Havre had a massive eruption

05:28that lasted about 90 days.

05:30Hot lava poured out of 14 different vents

05:33around the volcano's semi-circle-shaped opening.

05:37Havre is just one of many volcanic systems

05:39covered by thousands of feet of water.

05:42These volcanoes are the most active on Earth

05:44and are part of a giant system called mid-ocean ridges

05:47that stretches around the world.

05:50This system produces about 75% of all the magma

05:53that comes out of Earth's volcanoes each year.

05:56It releases over half a cubic mile of lava.

05:59When the magma cools down,

06:01it forms the edges of new ocean plates,

06:03which are like giant puzzle pieces

06:05that make up the Earth's crust.

06:08A team of scientists studied material

06:10left on the ocean floor by volcanic eruptions

06:12from the Bronze Age.

06:14About 3,600 years ago,

06:17a volcano that was partly underwater

06:19in the southern Aegean Sea

06:21woke up with a bang.

06:23This eruption destroyed the island of Santorini

06:25and sent massive amounts of ash, rocks, and gases into the air.

06:30It left behind thick layers of ash and rock

06:32that settled in piles on the ocean floor.

06:36Scientists have been studying the ancient Santorini eruption

06:38for several years

06:39to figure out what happens during such massive ones.

06:43Their research helps explain

06:45how future volcanic eruptions

06:47could affect the weather on our planet.

06:48The study also helped scientists

06:51understand the strength of the eruptions,

06:54how high the eruption columns might go,

06:56and the sizes of the waves that form

06:58when all that ash and rock

07:00settles into terraces on the ocean floor.

07:03This information will help predict

07:05the dangers of future eruptions.

07:07Now, when a volcano erupts,

07:09the last place you want to be is inside it.

07:12But scientists did it for you.

07:15Well, kinda.

07:16They produced a smart new imaging technique

07:19that uses the best ideas

07:20from medical imaging and optical telescopes.

07:24Matrix imaging, that's what it's called,

07:26makes it easier to understand

07:28what's happening underground,

07:29even when there aren't many sensors available.

07:32These sensors, called geophones,

07:34detect and record the movement of seismic waves,

07:37which are vibrations that travel through the Earth.

07:40By studying these waves,

07:41scientists can learn about the distinct types of rocks

07:44and how they are arranged beneath the surface.

07:47The researchers test their method

07:49on a volcano in Guadalupe in the Caribbean Sea.

07:52There aren't so many geophones on this site,

07:55but the scientists combined the data

07:57from multiple geophones thanks to this new tech.

08:00They used a special trick called the memory effect

08:03to reverse the distortions that happen

08:05when seismic waves bounce off

08:07different underground materials

08:08and figure out what the original signals looked like.

08:11The researchers could clearly see the structure

08:14inside the volcano down to a depth of about 6 miles

08:18with incredibly detailed images

08:20in a resolution of over 300 feet.

08:23They found out that there are many layers of magma

08:26stored underground.

08:27These layers are connected to other deep parts of the Earth.

08:31Knowing about these layers and how they work

08:33could help scientists make better guesses

08:35about when a volcano might erupt.

08:38If they can do that,

08:40they might be able to warn people earlier

08:42and keep them safe from dangerous eruptions.

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