Tonga Eruption Last Month Was Accompanied by Record-Breaking Lightning Storm

When the underwater volcano outside Tonga erupted last month, it was accompanied by one of the largest volcanic lightning events ever recorded Volcanic Island Hunga-Husa Ha’apai Ha’apai, about 65 km north of Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga, has moved away for a month before a series of explosions began on January 13.

Two days later, riding magma, very hot up to around 1,000º C, met with sea water 20º C, causing an instant and massive explosion. Nearly 400,000 lightning strikes were recorded in six hours of night “I can’t imagine what people will do on the islands, with a large ash clouds, the tsunami flooded everything they have, and the cloud-to-ground lightning dropped around them. Definitely feel apocalyptic,” said Chris Vagasky , a meteorologist in Vaisala.

Finnish-based environmental technology companies have studied wave patterns created when the eruption spices the stratosphere and spreads out Look here for interactive graphics on a lightning storm around Tonga When feathers rise higher, up to 8 km or more, water in the magma that erupts is cool enough to form an ice particle of various sizes. This then rubs together and causes their own lightning, as in a storm. When the underwater volcano outside Tonga erupted last month, it was accompanied by one of the largest volcanic lightning events ever recorded Volcanic Island Hunga-Husa Ha’apai Ha’apai, about 65 km north of Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga, has moved away for a month before a series of explosions began on January 13.

Two days later, riding magma, very hot up to around 1,000º C, met with sea water 20º C, causing an instant and massive explosion. Nearly 400,000 lightning strikes were recorded in six hours of night I can’t imagine what people will do on the islands, with a large ash clouds, the tsunami flooded everything they have, and the cloud-to-ground lightning dropped around them. Definitely feel apocalyptic,” said Chris Vagasky , a meteorologist in Vaisala.

Finnish-based environmental technology companies have studied wave patterns created when the eruption spices the stratosphere and spreads out Look here for interactive graphics on a lightning storm around Tonga (Editor’s Note: There are two sources of lightning during volcanic eruptions. When the feathers are less than 4 km or more, the rocks, lava and ash are united and exchange electrons. This results in the appropriate separation of charge.

When feathers rise higher, up to 8 km or more, water in the magma that erupts is cool enough to form an ice particle of various sizes. This then rubs together and causes their own lightning, as in a storm. According to data from the land-based global lightning detection network owned and operated by Vaisala, nicknamed GLD360, there are a total of almost 590,000 lightning strikes for three days. This figure has troubled the next biggest event on Vaisala’s record, the eruption of 2018 Krakatau children in Indonesia, when most of the volcanic island side slipped into the sea, triggering a tsunami.

“In December 2018 Krakatau’s son letup, we detected around 340,000 events over a one-week period, so as to detect nearly 400,000 in just a few hours extraordinary,” Vagasky said The nature of a very explosive eruption in Tonga could be a reason for a large number of lightning strikes. Another factor is the presence of sea water. Lava broke into small pieces when touching water, thus increasing the amount of charged particles available for collisions, causing lightning.

“A lot of research will come in the next month and year