In the last 24 hours we’ve seen a huge explosive volcanic from the Tongan island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai - the blast is so large it’s easily visible from multiple satellites in geostationary orbit, tens of thousands of miles up. The blast sent a soundwave around the world which is still being measured and the resulting tsunami caused flooding around the pacific ocean.
Santa Cruz gets a tsunami actions, with high waves all over the West Coast.
Growing up in the 80s the news would have told us about the eruption and we’d have seen some “12 hours after the fact” footage and been “Meh…no biggie.”
To actually see the event and the related scale…holy crap.
The imagery is awesome. I have only seen one estimate of VEI scale putting it at a tentative “4” which, though big, still makes it a bit of a minor geological fart.
All told though, it probably released twice the greenhouse gasses and particulates as all of mankind’s industrial history.
Thank you for posting the vid. Makes Mount St. Helens look like a walk in the park. When old Yellowstone pops its gonna be epic… Makes me understand just how fragile and insignificant man really is.
Arguing with Mother Nature:
Me: I’ve got an AK/AR and a couple hundred rounds of ammo and a really sharp knife and the experience to use them!
Mother Nature: "Oh really… I’ve got Volcano’s, Tsunami’s, Tornado’s, Earthquakes, Landslides, FIRE, Wind, Floods, pests… Oh… did I mention the Volcano’s?
Actually Mt. St. Helens was a little bigger (5 vs 4).
If one watches the common video of St. Helens it doesn’t look as impressive before the camera gets wiped out, but it was pretty devastating. I have a Polaroid I took from about 30,000ft a week after. It’s a color pic, but you’d swear it was B/W.
Mt St Helens was a BFD, I still remember that one. Poor ****ing camping family in a station wagon trying to outrun it. Old timer with his cats got his wish.
Still though, a 4 can cause some weather changes depending on how much outgassing it produces. We’ll have to see how much this one does in the long run.
Absolutely! Wasn’t meaning to diminish it. The various footage available is incredible. And a 4 might as well be 4 million if it happens nearby. Some folks around here are frantic to get ahold of friends and family in Tonga. Lots of Polynesians in UT.
Side question. Anyone know a good way to digitize polaroids? All I’m getting from taking pics my old shots of St Helens looks like crap.
I use a cheaper scanner from walmart. Think its a HP envy 5505. I scan all my firearm related stuff with it, Works good with photo’s if you crank up the resolution.
“Well, like, a warmer atmosphere is less dense. So, like, it’s easier for the volcano to push out! Like, OMG, how do you not know this. It’s SCIENCE!” -AOC
