This ‘dual mechanism’ created a two-part tsunami. Recorded in all world’s oceans and large seas, from Japan and the United States’ western seaboard in the North Pacific Ocean to the coasts within the Mediterranean Sea, the researchers found that the tsunami was unique as the waves were created not only by the water displaced by the volcano’s eruption but also by huge atmospheric pressure waves, which circled the globe multiple times. This Tonga volcano eruption was one of the very few tsunamis powerful enough to travel around the globe. “The eruption should serve as a wake-up call for international groups looking to protect people from similar events in future” © University of Bath Why was this eruption so unique? The wave formed after the eruption came to be almost the height of the Statue of Liberty (93m), researchers from New Zealand’s GNS Science, the Association for the Development of Earthquake Prediction in Japan, the University of Split in Croatia and London’s Brunel University, found this underwater volcano caused a wave around nine times taller than that from the highly destructive 2011 Japan tsunami.Ĭalling for better warning systems to detect volcanic eruptions, the University of Bath tsunami experts suggest systems are 30 years behind comparable earthquake detection tools – making detection and safety against active volcanoes more dangerous. This same tonga volcano eruption has also been known to cause electric currents in space. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano had an eruption in January of 2022, forming an initial wave which was around 90 metres high while releasing more energy than the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated.

Image Credit: NOAA/NASA The tsunami wave created by the Tonga volcano eruption reached over 90 metres in height, nine times taller than the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011

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