Document Type
Article
Source of Publication
Geoscience Letters
Publication Date
12-1-2022
Abstract
January 2022 witnessed the violent eruption of Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai submarine volcano in the South Pacific. With a volcanic explosivity index possibly equivalent to VEI 5, this represents the largest seaborne eruption for nearly one and a half centuries since Indonesia’s cataclysmic explosion of Krakatau in AD 1883. The Tongan eruption remarkably produced ocean-wide tsunamis, never documented before in the Pacific instrumental record. Volcanically generated tsunamis have been referred to as a ‘blind spot’ in our understanding of tsunami hazards, particularly in the Pacific Ocean. This event therefore presents a unique opportunity for investigating the multiple processes contributing to volcanic tsunamigenesis. It is argued that, although challenges exist, integrating theoretical, observational, field and modelling techniques offers the best approach to improving volcanic tsunami hazard assessment across Oceania.
DOI Link
ISSN
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
9
Issue
1
Disciplines
Earth Sciences
Scopus ID
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Terry, James P.; Goff, James; Winspear, Nigel; Bongolan, Vena Pearl; and Fisher, Scott, "Tonga volcanic eruption and tsunami, January 2022: globally the most significant opportunity to observe an explosive and tsunamigenic submarine eruption since AD 1883 Krakatau" (2022). All Works. 5256.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/5256
Indexed in Scopus
yes
Open Access
yes
Open Access Type
Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series