The detectives hunting for underwater volcanoes..
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In January 2022, a giant undersea volcano explosion rocked Tonga in the Pacific. How do scientists find where and when the next one will blow?
During the summer of 1883, a caldera in the Sunda Strait, located between the islands of Java and Sumatra, became increasingly turbulent, releasing huge plumes of ash and steam into the sky. Then, on 26 August, an underwater volcano ejected approximately 25 km3 (six cubic miles) of debris, hurtling pumice ash and boiling lava flows across nearby settlements. The eruption killed tens of thousands of people. Krakatoa remains one of the most deadly underwater eruptions in history.
Nearly a century and a half later, on 15 January 2022, another underwater giant awoke from its slumber, this time off the shores of Tonga. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and resulting tsunami were different, however. Volcanologists were able to document the underwater mountain’s violent release in real time, and what they found confounded their expectations. The South Pacific nation was all but cut off from the rest of the world after an undersea communications cable was severed by the explosion, but satellites captured hundreds of lightning discharges issuing forth from the volcano’s ash clouds. Remote sensors recorded powerful shock waves reverberating across the globe for days. A column of ash rose to never before seen heights, lingering in the outer reaches of the planet’s atmosphere.
The Hunga Tonga eruption remains a humanitarian disaster for the nearly 100,000 people who live in Tonga – and an unfolding tale of mystery and caution for the world. It prompted scientists to rethink their ideas on the hazards posed by the many submarine volcanoes lurking beneath the oceans. Now, the hunt is on to find these underwater seamounts in order to protect land and ocean alike.
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https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...water-volcanos