Image – EPA / RAMMB / NOAA / NESDIS HANDOUT
The Earth is a planet in which phenomena occur every year that leave us speechless. One of those times was on January 15, 2022, when the Hunga Tonga submarine volcano, located in the Pacific Ocean, ejected an eruptive column that, according to experts, exceeded 25 kilometers in height., and not content with that, the noise was heard more than 1500 kilometers away, in New Zealand.
But as if this were not enough, its seismic waves reached several countries around the world, including Spain, a small country in southern Europe.
The eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano, in Polynesia, has been spectacular, so much so that could be seen even from space. The explosion was such that it caused countless damages, mainly in Tonga, an archipelago of 170 small islands, but also in nearby areas. In addition, the entire Pacific coast, from Japan to the western United States, was on tsunami alert,
In this shocking video you can see how the sea invades Neskowin beach, in Oregon (United States):
Neskowin, Oregon, effects of the Tsunami caused by the explosion of an underwater volcano, the same occurs in California, Mexico, Chile and Japan.#Tonga pic.twitter.com/Nn6SKZMfyA
—MT. (@PandadelAmorXI) January 15, 2022
The governments of the Pacific countries urged the population to move away from the coast, and go to high points. And is not for less. In this satellite image, you can see the moment when the volcano expelled the huge column:
?#URGENTE | El #tsunami generated by the ongoing eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'Apai submarine volcano, in ??#Tonga is slowly crossing the Pacific: Hawaii, Alaska, the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
pic.twitter.com/r7Jf3q0XfY— @LivingtonPanta (@livingtonpanta) January 15, 2022
But, what no one could believe, was that its waves reached points as far away as Spain. And it is that, If we go to Google Earth, we can see how far Tonga is from this country, more than 17 thousand kilometers:
Tonga can be placed in the lower left corner of the image, and Spain in the upper right corner.
On Twitter there was no talk of anything else. Both meteorology buffs and experts couldn't believe their eyes: the air pressure experienced a sharp drop when the volcano expelled such a quantity of gas into the atmosphere. This caused that, for example in the Balearic Islands, the pressure suffered several changes, the greatest of all being 1.1 hPa:
I'm just hallucinating! The shock wave from the volcano's explosion #Tonga It has reached the very Balearic Islands! Various pressure jumps, the largest of them 1.1 hPa. Will there be rissaga? pic.twitter.com/QFsU6FbdvQ
– Iván Domínguez Fuentes (@idfeiven) January 15, 2022
across the pond, in the Canary Islands, the explosion generated seismic waves, whose energy is equivalent to a magnitude 5,8 earthquake, as INVOLCAN, the Canarian Seismic Network, explained to local radio:
The Canarian Seismic Network @involcan recorded today seismic waves created by the exceptional explosion of the Hunga Tonga submarine volcano, located in #Tonga, Pacific Ocean. The explosion generated seismic waves of energy equivalent to a magnitude 5,8 earthquake. pic.twitter.com/hog69PSTvn
– Canary Islands Radio (@laautonomica) January 15, 2022
Without a doubt, this phenomenon will be remembered as one of the most surprising of the year, and who knows if of the century.