5 ms·

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai has almost disappeared

82 points by fguerraz 5y ago

Rastonbury 5y ago
Did you see the pressure wave it caused in the atmosphere from satellite images? Seems like the island got obliterated by the eruption
- fguerraz 5y ago
  That was quite a blast indeed...
- robin_reala 5y ago
  The pressure waves were measurable globally. Here’s some tweets earlier with data from London: https://twitter.com/russss/status/1482449707083390977 https://twitter.com/russss/status/1482449707083390977
  - wdfx 5y ago
    About 6 months ago I set up some little esp32 temp/pressure recorders in my home. Seeing this I've just connected the dots and realised I also recorded the same event. https://imgur.com/KAOPQxH https://imgur.com/KAOPQxH This is in South East London.
    - m0ngr31 5y ago
      I'm guessing that's Home Assistant?
      - wdfx 5y ago
        No it's a custom Grafana setup I use to monitor this and a few other things in my home.
  - Rastonbury 5y ago
    Scott Manley on YouTube has a video with weather data in Japan and US and you can see the wave travel across the countries
geraldyo 5y ago
Is this whole thing at all related to climate change? I know nothing about that field, just seems interesting timing of "once-in-a-lifetime" events
- temp12913231 5y ago
  > Is this whole thing at all related to climate change? no, but in a couple years expect some guy to write a climate change article and show the before and after photos as proof...
  - dang 5y ago
    We've banned this account for posting flamewar comments. That's not what HN is for, and it destroys what it is for. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- turminal 5y ago
  No, at least not in any way we know about. I was caused by violent volcanic activity which is governed by forces from the earth's interior.
  - geraldyo 5y ago
    Good to know, thanks!
    - vba616 5y ago
      There seem to be people asserting that removing the weight of melting ice is destabilizing the crust and contributing to volcanic events and earthquakes. Here is a link: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/get-ready-for-more-volcanic-eruptions-as-the-planet-warms/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/get-ready-for-mor... "A new study shows that even relatively small-scale climatic changes affect volcanic activity"
karlkatzke 5y ago
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai had already almost disappeared before the eruption. A picture taken two hours before the widely publicized explosive detonation showed that the 2015 eruption products, which is really the north north west side of the much larger caldera that isn't even fully shown in this picture, had already disappeared. https://denvergazette.com/news/nation-world/a-planet-skysat-image-shows-the-underwater-volcano-hunga-tonga-hunga-haapai-two-hours-before/image_d48ccca5-6d2a-5f36-83ff-b40c0e511b4e.html https://denvergazette.com/news/nation-world/a-planet-skysat-...
- pixl97 5y ago
  This youtube video posted yesterday does a good job of describing the geology of the area, and makes an accurate prediction that the volcano could be mostly gone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B54HbfqDbK4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B54HbfqDbK4
ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
This[0] is one of my favorite pics. It's an ISS image of one of the Kuril islands, experiencing a volcanic eruption. Good thing the islands are uninhabited (by humans), as those clouds at the feet of the main column are pyroclastic flows, and it is probably as close to Hell, down there, as you can get, without going on a tourist visa. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Riauw5UTnW8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Riauw5UTnW8
- retrac 5y ago
  And some image sequences of the Jan 13th Tonga eruption from the GOES West and Himiwari-8 satellites: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2022-01/20220113_HungaTonga1.gif https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2022-01/20220113_HungaTonga1.... https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2022-01/20220113-HungaVolcanoA.gif https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2022-01/20220113-HungaVolcano... (No idea why NOAA provided them as giant GIFs. Source: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/hunga-tonga-hunga-haapai-erupts-again https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/hunga-tonga-hunga-haapai-er...)
hinkley 5y ago
Never thought I would ever anthropomorphize an actual volcano and yet here I am, feeling sad that he never found love. I have a dream I hope will come true That you’re here with me and I’m here with you I wish that the Earth, sea, and the sky up above-a will send me someone to lava
renewiltord 5y ago
Fascinating. Even after the last eruption it was quickly colonized by plants and birds. The mud found on it in the last expedition must have been from the volcano! https://youtu.be/Hds1OBxVg4s?s=209 https://youtu.be/Hds1OBxVg4s?s=209 Has footage from the island before it blew up!
kzrdude 5y ago
How are people doing in Tonga? Is it mostly ok? I get the impression that we mostly don't know due to communication issues, so it could be quite bad.
- dzhiurgis 5y ago
  NZ defence plane is on the way to asses - apparently they haven't heard from 30+ islands outside of capital one You can follow them here https://mobile.twitter.com/NZDefenceForce https://mobile.twitter.com/NZDefenceForce

82 points by fguerraz 5y ago

Did you see the pressure wave it caused in the atmosphere from satellite images? Seems like the island got obliterated by the eruption

fguerraz 5y ago
That was quite a blast indeed...
robin_reala 5y ago
The pressure waves were measurable globally. Here’s some tweets earlier with data from London: https://twitter.com/russss/status/1482449707083390977 https://twitter.com/russss/status/1482449707083390977
- wdfx 5y ago
  About 6 months ago I set up some little esp32 temp/pressure recorders in my home. Seeing this I've just connected the dots and realised I also recorded the same event. https://imgur.com/KAOPQxH https://imgur.com/KAOPQxH This is in South East London.
  - m0ngr31 5y ago
    I'm guessing that's Home Assistant?
    - wdfx 5y ago
      No it's a custom Grafana setup I use to monitor this and a few other things in my home.
- Rastonbury 5y ago
  Scott Manley on YouTube has a video with weather data in Japan and US and you can see the wave travel across the countries

geraldyo 5y ago

Is this whole thing at all related to climate change? I know nothing about that field, just seems interesting timing of "once-in-a-lifetime" events

temp12913231 5y ago
> Is this whole thing at all related to climate change? no, but in a couple years expect some guy to write a climate change article and show the before and after photos as proof...
- dang 5y ago
  We've banned this account for posting flamewar comments. That's not what HN is for, and it destroys what it is for. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
turminal 5y ago
No, at least not in any way we know about. I was caused by violent volcanic activity which is governed by forces from the earth's interior.
- geraldyo 5y ago
  Good to know, thanks!
  - vba616 5y ago
    There seem to be people asserting that removing the weight of melting ice is destabilizing the crust and contributing to volcanic events and earthquakes. Here is a link: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/get-ready-for-more-volcanic-eruptions-as-the-planet-warms/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/get-ready-for-mor... "A new study shows that even relatively small-scale climatic changes affect volcanic activity"

karlkatzke 5y ago

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai had already almost disappeared before the eruption. A picture taken two hours before the widely publicized explosive detonation showed that the 2015 eruption products, which is really the north north west side of the much larger caldera that isn't even fully shown in this picture, had already disappeared. https://denvergazette.com/news/nation-world/a-planet-skysat-image-shows-the-underwater-volcano-hunga-tonga-hunga-haapai-two-hours-before/image_d48ccca5-6d2a-5f36-83ff-b40c0e511b4e.html https://denvergazette.com/news/nation-world/a-planet-skysat-...

pixl97 5y ago
This youtube video posted yesterday does a good job of describing the geology of the area, and makes an accurate prediction that the volcano could be mostly gone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B54HbfqDbK4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B54HbfqDbK4

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

This[0] is one of my favorite pics. It's an ISS image of one of the Kuril islands, experiencing a volcanic eruption. Good thing the islands are uninhabited (by humans), as those clouds at the feet of the main column are pyroclastic flows, and it is probably as close to Hell, down there, as you can get, without going on a tourist visa. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Riauw5UTnW8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Riauw5UTnW8

retrac 5y ago
And some image sequences of the Jan 13th Tonga eruption from the GOES West and Himiwari-8 satellites: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2022-01/20220113_HungaTonga1.gif https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2022-01/20220113_HungaTonga1.... https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2022-01/20220113-HungaVolcanoA.gif https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2022-01/20220113-HungaVolcano... (No idea why NOAA provided them as giant GIFs. Source: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/hunga-tonga-hunga-haapai-erupts-again https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/hunga-tonga-hunga-haapai-er...)

hinkley 5y ago

Never thought I would ever anthropomorphize an actual volcano and yet here I am, feeling sad that he never found love. I have a dream I hope will come true That you’re here with me and I’m here with you I wish that the Earth, sea, and the sky up above-a will send me someone to lava

renewiltord 5y ago

Fascinating. Even after the last eruption it was quickly colonized by plants and birds. The mud found on it in the last expedition must have been from the volcano! https://youtu.be/Hds1OBxVg4s?s=209 https://youtu.be/Hds1OBxVg4s?s=209 Has footage from the island before it blew up!

kzrdude 5y ago

How are people doing in Tonga? Is it mostly ok? I get the impression that we mostly don't know due to communication issues, so it could be quite bad.

dzhiurgis 5y ago
NZ defence plane is on the way to asses - apparently they haven't heard from 30+ islands outside of capital one You can follow them here https://mobile.twitter.com/NZDefenceForce https://mobile.twitter.com/NZDefenceForce