The Hunga Tonga eruption

[Suff]

Outside of the Tsunami, the ash cloud over Tonga, the deaths and all the rest of the activity; I was searching for an estimate of the size of the eruption.

Finally I found this site.

It appears they don't know exactly how large it was, time will tell and they will need to map the caldera and the actual material shifted. But it looks like a top end VEI5 or a low end VEI6 like Mt Pinatubo. Apparently the sonic boom was heard in Alaska 10,000 miles away.

Impacts from the volcano are estimates right now, but global cooling in the 0.1c or 0.2c bracket for a year or two is likely. Might impact our winters for a year or two also.

I'll be tracking this for a while.

[cromwell]

I remember the Mount St Helens eruption in the early 80's. We got the most amazing purple sunsets.

[TheOstrich]

An interesting article that, Suff. I did some Googling on Krakatoa (1883) and I see that is classified comfortably as a VEI-6 event (16 cubic kilometres of ejectile material), with Hunga Tonga said to be upper-end VEI-5 (9 cubic Kilometres).

It's also interesting to note that barometers in the UK recorded a substantial disturbance at the appropriate time the shock-wave would have reached us, "not dissimilar" to historical readings in the aftermath of Krakatoa according to experts.

The USGS/Smithsonian Weekly Volcanic Activity Report should be updated tonight and it will be interesting to see their summary of it.
https://volcano.si.edu/reports_weekly.cfm

[Suff]

It is a big event. Just glad it didn't kill way more people.

My main concern is the inevitable impact on weather patterns will cause a new rash of global warming doubt.

Hence why I'm interested.

[Workingman]

I see the latest is that the tip of the plume rose more than half way to space - 55km. Space, the Karman line, is at about 100km.

It is a record measurement due to better data gathering and analysis, though Pinatubo is thought to have been higher. Its umbrella plume was at 40km compared to Hunga Tonga at 35km. The numbers are quite staggering.

Pinatubo (July 2001) caused cooling by 0.6 °C (1 °F ) for over 15 months, but the effects lasted more than two years. Hunga Tonga might not be as bad but there will be changes in the weather that's for sure. The winters of 2001-02-03 were cold and dry due to the Jetstream meandering to the south meaning we were in a polar zone but once it switched back we got a heatwave in 2003.

[Suff]

Yep, massive VEI5, almost the top of the scale. It will mess with the weather for at least 2 years.