Jan 25, 2022 15:00:00

How big was the volcanic eruption in Tonga? When the scale of the explosion is piled up all over the world, it looks like this

It is known that the volcanic eruption that occurred in Tonga on January 15, 2022 was more than 500 times more powerful than the Hiroshima-type atomic bomb, and its effect was almost completely blown away from the island . A map has been released that allows you to understand the magnitude of the explosion in one shot by overlaying the eruption smoke generated by such a large eruption all over the world.

How big was the Tonga eruption?
https://graphics.reuters.com/TONGA-VOLCANO/lgpdwjyqbvo/

According to research by NASA and others, this eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai volcano generated an eruption with a diameter of about 650 km, and the scale is said to be the largest eruption in the 20th century, Pinatubo, Philippines in 1991. It was comparable to a mountain eruption.

by NOAA

However, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai volcano is a submarine volcano in the South Pacific Ocean, and there is no comparison in size in the vicinity, so the satellite image of the explosion is not enough. So Reuters overlaid the explosion on a map of the rest of the world so that its size could be intuitively understood.

Below is an image (right) of a satellite image of the Iberian Peninsula in Europe overlaid with a volcanic eruption in Tonga (right). It's easy to see that most of Spain's land is covered with eruptions.

England

Florida Peninsula (top) and California (bottom) in the United States

Korean Peninsula

Near Cambodia in Southeast Asia

Sinai Peninsula in the Middle East

Somali Peninsula in eastern Africa

It has not yet been determined which of the 0-8 volcanic explosive indices this eruption corresponds to, but if it is comparable to Mount Pinatubo, it will be '6'.

'According to data on the eruption of Tonga, volcanic gas and ash seem to have blown up to at least 20km above the ground,' Raymod Cas, a volcanologist at Monash University in Australia, told Reuters.

Comparing the volcanic eruption of Tonga with the Japanese archipelago, we can see that the Kanto area is almost completely swallowed.

If you hear 'Large-scale eruption in Tonga' but it doesn't come to your mind, please click here. Compared to Kanto, you can see that it was a tremendous eruption. The exact scale is not yet known, but it is incomparably large compared to the eruptions envisioned at Mt. Fuji and the eruptions that occur on a daily basis at Sakurajima. pic.twitter.com/Xt4ZwhDCIX

— Disaster prevention that does not kill people (@ bosai_311) January 15, 2022