Issue 9: Tonga Eruption
January 20, 2022
A volcanic island in Tonga erupts and triggers a tsunami, an untouched forest is spotted in Mozambique, and our newest satellite fleet delivers its first image of the Nile River floodplain.
Feature Story: Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Eruption
If you read last week’s issue of Snapshots, you may remember that we featured before and after images of a small volcanic island that had grown by 45% since December. Well, that island is now all but gone.
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai dominated the news cycle this past week after the underwater volcano erupted with such force that it triggered a tsunami that reached all the way across the Pacific. Even its pressure wave was so vigorous that it fully circumnavigated the globe.
Impact in numbers:
- The power of the blast was estimated to be 500 times greater than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II.
- Ash plumes reached 19 km (11.8 miles) high, well above cruising altitude for commercial airplanes.
- The eruption was heard 2,300 km (1,430 miles) away and emitted an atmospheric shockwave that reached close to the speed of sound.
- Scientists recorded 400,000 lightning events within 3 hours on the day of the eruption.
On January 15, one of our SkySats snapped this shot of the island just two hours before the massive eruption (top image). Three days later, hardly any of the island can be seen above water (bottom).
We’re able to view more of the eruption’s damage as clouds clear over impacted areas. Ash-covered land on nearby islands have turned normally verdant terrain to a dullish gray.
Follow our socials to stay up-to-date in the coming days with more images of the event, and check out the BBC’s article on how satellites have been crucial in monitoring the eruption.
Mountaintop Time Capsule
While places like the islands of Tonga are changing drastically, other places in the world have stayed more or less the same. In 2012, a conservation scientist used Google Earth to spot an untouched forest on the top of a mountain (technically an inselberg: an isolated small mountain rising from a plain — thank us at your next trivia night). The scientist then led a 28-person team of various experts to study the forest’s ecosystem and biodiversity. Read about their journey and this awesome landscape in The Verge’s article.
Have any environmental feel-good stories or places? Let us know! We’re putting something together, plus we can always use the extra positivity.
View From A-Dove
The first image taken by our newest flock of satellites is of one of the oldest civilized areas on Earth. After hitching a ride aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket last week, our new Doves made contact and started sending data back. Referred to as “first light” because it’s the first image taken after the satellite is operational, this photo shows irrigated farmland around the Nile River in Egypt.
