How big was the Tonga eruption?

[L. Coyote]

This big:



Not trusting just anyone on the WWW to accurately scale and superimpose the Tonga eruption, I screen captured the Tonga eruption in zoom.earth, placed the image overlay in Google Earth, scaled it precisely using island outlines, then moved the scaled overlay atop Mt. St. Helens with slight transparency. I saw an exaggerated overlay, poorly Photoshopped too, so I decided to scale it for myself using skills I normally apply to archaeology site maps on a small scale by comparison.

The eruption cloud grows to be even larger, but at 11:00 AM there is still good definition of the outline. As you can see, the eruption cloud spans as far as from Seattle, WA to Salem, OR. You can use the zoom.earth link above and change the time to watch the change in size in 10 minute intervals. Anyone want to make a video of that?

The Cascades volcanoes are products of a subduction zone just like Tonga. The last immense eruption in the Cascades, blowing the top off Mt. Mazama and creating Crater Lake, was on this scale. This will happen again in the Cascades, we just don't know when.

Volcanoes of the Cascades
Majestic and Perilous Natural Wonders Crown the Pacific Northwest Landscape
http://www.jqjacobs.net/writing/volcanoc.html

Link to tweet

[burrowowl]

1. K&R!

Great idea!

[love_katz]

2. I was wondering how this eruption compared to Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

This is excellent. Thank you. 😊

[roamer65]

3. Mount Rainier.

If it ever goes active, pack up and get out of the Pacific Northwest, folks.

[L. Coyote]

4. Lahars are a huge concern around Rainier because so many people live in the paths.

Rainier does not need to have a big eruption to become a big problem, rapid melt of the glaciers could create lahars displacing 80,000 people. View this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rainier#/media/File:Mount_Rainier_Hazard_Map-en.svg

[roamer65]

7. Dante's Peak.

I read once the premise of the movie was to simulate a full eruption of Mount Rainier.

[Mysterian]

5. It blowed up real good!

She surely did!

[sarcasmo]

6. "Booms heard by Alaskans 6,000 miles away."

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2022/01/15/volcano-eruption-near-tonga-causes-booms-heard-by-alaskans-nearly-6000-miles-away/

[L. Coyote]

10. Pressure waves recorded in Scandinavia, two directions, three times around the earth.

Saw it in a tweet, so I searched for others. The wave first moves across the north pole to Scandanavia, going north to south, traveling 16,000 km to reach Denmark heading for West Africa. The second wave approaches from the near opposite direction traveling about 24,000 km to Denmark.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Even personal indoor equipment detected it in Finland.

Link to tweet

[malaise]

8. Huge

That tsunami even affected Peru

[malaise]

9. Huge

That tsunami even affected Peru