Multiple airwaves crossing Britain and Ireland following the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai on 15 January 2022
Burt, Stephen
At 0415 utc on 15 January 2022, the large subterranean volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai in the south Pacific Ocean exploded violently, sending an eruption cloud at least 40km into the atmosphere. Satellite images caught the dramatic growth of the volcanic plume and the subsequent pressure wave, which radiated outward from the volcano at close to the speed of sound. The initial pressure wave was detected across the entire globe, reaching the British and Irish Isles some 14 hours after the eruption. Several subsequent reverberations of this pressure wave could be detected in the British and Irish Isles up to 127 hours after the eruption, in what appears to have been the largest amplitude airwave event caused by a distant natural phenomenon since the Krakatoa eruption of August 1883.</p>
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