Geodigest

Abstract

The Tonga underwater volcano that erupted in January 2022, covering the island nation in ash, is still surprisingly intact, scientists have said (Holly Bancroft, The Independent, 23 May 2022). The 15 January eruption (Fig. 1) was as powerful as the 1883 Krakatoa eruption in Indonesia and triggered a tsunami, which swept through Tonga and caused widespread damage to buildings. A New Zealand-led team of scientists have been mapping the underwater volcano and discovered that it has not changed much following the eruption, the BBC reported. The expedition leader, marine geologist Kevin Mackay, said he was taken aback by the data that his team had recovered. ‘Given the violence of the eruption on 15 January, I’d expected the edifice to either have collapsed or been blown apart, and this is not the case’, he told the BBC. ‘While the volcano appeared intact, the seafloor showed some dramatic effects of the eruption’. The scientists found that, though the flanks of the volcano were devoid of marine life, fish and mussels were living on other seamounts. Malcolm Clark, a fisheries expert, said that this showed the ‘resilience of animal populations in the region’. The team will be using a robot boat to examine the volcano. They are taking the precaution because it appears to still be active. The eruption of this volcano, named Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, has baffled scientists. Researchers are finding it hard to explain why the volcano sent a cloud to such extreme heights, but emitted less ash than would be expected. Volcanologist Nico Fournier, said: ‘It just basically rips the BandAid on our lack of understanding of what’s happening under water’.