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satellite images have revealed the devastation caused by the 'once-in-a-millennia' underwater volcanic eruption at the weekend.
The peak of Hunga-Tonga, which has been visible above the ocean since eruptions in 2014/15 formed a new island, has been almost entirely destroyed with just a few scraps of land visible through clouds in images taken Sunday.
Tongatapu has also been badly damaged with water inundating the northern shoreline - facing the volcano - and water damage also visible on the southern side of the island.
An airfield in the southeastern corner of the island also shows signs of water damage, suggesting the wave was able to penetrate at least two miles inland from the coast.
Similar damage is also visible in coastal areas on the islands of Uoleva and Nomuka, with lesser damage to the coastal areas on Uiha island. Ash deposits are visible on all islands, as debris from the eruption rained form the sky.
Two New Zealand navy vessels will arrive in Tonga on Friday, carrying much-needed water and other supplies for the Pacific island nation reeling from a volcanic eruption and tsunami, and largely cut off from the outside world.
Hundreds of homes in Tonga's smaller outer islands have been destroyed, and at least three people were killed after Saturday's huge eruption triggered tsunami waves, which rolled over the islands causing what the government has called an unprecedented disaster.
With its airport smothered under a layer of volcanic ash and communications badly hampered by the severing of an undersea cable, information on the scale of the devastation has mostly come from reconnaissance aircraft.
"For the people of Tonga, we're heading their way now with a whole lot of water," Simon Griffiths, captain of the HMNZS Aotearoa, said in a release.
originally posted by: Dutchowl
a reply to: japhrimu
What struck me as odd was we had reports of the explosion and then later they said to have video of a prior explosion which wasn't reported until later.
And then coincidentally they ran a story yesterday of how they're tracking a large asteroid as it makes a close pass by of Earth.
I think they don't want to admit they aren't nearly as able to spot and predict these impacts and can't track them and give any warning. They're now trying to make up asteroids they claim to know about and want us to believe they can give us some advanced warning. They can't.
More than 80 percent of the archipelago's population of 100,000 have been impacted by the disaster, the United Nations has estimated, and initial assessments indicate an urgent need for drinking water.
The first smattering of images to emerge from Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa show ashen buildings, toppled walls and streets littered with boulders, tree trunks and other debris.
Tongans worked for days at the airport trying to clear the runway of ash so that much-needed aid could arrive.
The work was painfully slow, with only a few hundred metres being cleared each day.
Compared to normal background levels of stratospheric water vapor, these radiosondes were registering 580 times as much water even two days after the eruption, after the plume had some time to spread out.
There was so much there that it still stood out as the plume drifted over South America. The researchers were able to track it for a total of six weeks, following it as it spread out while circling the Earth twice. Using some of these readings, the researchers estimated the total volume of the water vapor plume and then used the levels of water present to come up with a total amount of water put into the stratosphere by the eruption.
They came up with 50 billion kilograms. And that's a low estimate, because, as mentioned above, there was still water above the altitudes where some of the measurements stopped.
A powerful underwater earthquake struck Friday off Tonga in the southern Pacific, prompting authorities to issue a tsunami advisory.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.3 quake was centered 132 miles east-southeast of Neiafu, Tonga, at a depth of 24.8 kilometers (15 miles). It predicted strong shaking but said the probability of serious damage or casualties was small.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System issued a tsunami advisory, which is one step below a tsunami warning.
originally posted by: Creep Thumper
The tsunami was all of one centimeter, so 👎🏻 to the OP for trying to hype something that wasn't.