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Scientists are struggling to monitor an active volcano that erupted off the South Pacific island of Tonga at the weekend, after the explosion destroyed its sea-level crater and drowned its mass, obscuring it from satellites. The eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano, which sits on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, sent tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean and was heard some 2,300 kms (1,430 miles) away in New Zealand. “The concern at the moment is how little information we have and that’s scary,” said Janine Krippner, a New Zealand-based volcanologist with the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program. “When the vent is...

The eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano, which sits on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, sent tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean and was heard some 2,300 kms (1,430 miles) away in New Zealand. [O]n-site instruments were likely destroyed in the eruption and the volcanology community was pooling together the best available data and expertise to review the explosion and predict anticipated future activity. Saturday's eruption was so powerful that space satellites captured not only huge clouds of ash but also an atmospheric shockwave that radiated out from the volcano at close to the speed of sound. Photographs and videos...

AAP/Japan Meteorology Agency Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next January 15, 2022 3.04pm EST Shane Cronin, University of Auckland Author Shane Cronin Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Auckland The Kingdom of Tonga doesn’t often attract global attention, but a violent eruption of an underwater volcano on January 15 has spread shock waves, quite literally, around half the world. The volcano is usually not much to look at. It consists of two small uninhabited islands, Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga, poking about 100m above sea level 65km north of Tonga’s capital Nuku‘alofa. But hiding...

Residents of the South Pacific nation of Tonga are experiencing a total Internet shutdown after an underwater cable which connects the island to the rest of the world was severed, possibly by the anchor of a large ship. It doesn't just mean that the isolated country can't access Facebook and YouTube - it's also affected email, airline bookings, university enrollment, money wires and prevented businesses from processing credit and debit cards - throwing the small country into chaos as they face up to weeks of Internet isolation. A ship from nearby Samoa will be sent out to fix the severed...

Pictured: The spectacular eruption of an underwater volcano in the South Pacific ...The spectacular columns blasted out of the South Pacific yesterday six miles off the coast of Tonga's main island Tongatapu. The eruption can be seen clearly from the capital, Nuku'alofa... Towering above, the sheer power of the underwater volcano could be seen for many miles ...No warnings have been issued to the coastal villages...The situation...helped by trade winds which...blow gas and steam away from the island. The roiling seas beneath the full fury of the undersea volcano which is part of a cluster of 36 in the area...

The Pacific nation of Tonga is waiting to see if it has a new island, after an underwater volcanic eruption forced a column of smoke and ash into the skies near the country's capital, Nuku'alofa. The eruption began on Monday after an earth tremor and is still sending clouds of smoke, steam and ash up to 100 metres into the air. Seismologists say the tremor was between the low-lying twin volcanic islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai, an area where around 36 undersea volcanoes are situated. Kelepi Mafi from Tonga's Ministry of Lands says a marine survey will begin...

Aerial photos of the new Home Reef volcanic island in the Tongan archipelago, which produced some massive pumice reefs a few weeks ago (link below images). Home Reef Tonga Eruption

When an underwater volcano in Tonga erupted in January, it belched out more than ash and volcanic gases; it also spewed 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools' worth of water vapor into Earth's atmosphere, a new study finds. This water vapor could end up being the most destructive part of the volcano's eruption because it could potentially exacerbate global warming and deplete the ozone layer, according to the study. When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, it became the most powerful explosion on Earth in more than 30 years, with an equivalent force of 100 Hiroshima bombs.

Is it water? Is it the harbinger of an earthquake? Residents of an eastern Turkish village are eager to find out the cause of strange sounds originating from underground for the past two weeks. They contacted authorities and a crew from the local branch of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) is now investigating the case in Meydandere, a village near the central part of Siirt province.Villagers claimed the sounds are accompanied by a few seconds of tremors as AFAD crews accompanied by geology engineers examined the ground on Sunday. Cahit Akkoyun, head of AFAD’s Siirt branch, told reporters...

A volcano in western Japan erupted on Sunday evening, sending a large plume of black smoke into the sky and spewing rocks. The volcano, named Sakurajima, is located on the southwestern island of Kyushu, about 600 miles from Tokyo. It’s one of the Japan’s most active volcanoes. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. The Japan Meteorological Agency raised the volcanic alert from level 3 to level 5 — the highest alert level, which has only been seen once before in 2015 for a different volcano, the Japan Times reported....

The vast expanse of Lake Taupō's sky blue waters, crowned by hazy, mountainous horizons, invokes an extreme sense of tranquility. And yet, deep in the ground below, geological unrest is brewing, according to a new paper in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. Lake Taupō is the largest freshwater lake in Australasia, located at the center of New Zealand's north island. And while it appears peaceful today, the lake has a violent origin story. The lake's waters sit within a prehistoric caldera – a word based on the Spanish for 'cauldron' or 'boiling pot' – formed during Earth's...

Reporter’s notebook: OPB science reporter Jes Burns shares a strange tale of “crabotage” that emerged as scientists aboard the research vessel Thompson tried to answer complicated questions about the Axial Seamount. Being out on the research vessel Thompson in the middle of the ocean means never really hearing the ocean at all. There’s engine noise and exhaust blowers and climate control and winches and wind — but very few actual waves. Being out on a research ship 250 miles away from land means the science never stops. It’s a 24-7 buzz of prepping, deploying and recovering geologic sensors trying to...

The man, who has not been named, allegedly walked on an unauthorized path to reach the summit of Mount Vesuvius at 1,281 meters, according to a spokesperson from the Carabinieri of the Forestry department of the Park of Vesuvius. The spokesperson told ABC News he believes the man went on the unmarked path because tickets for visiting Vesuvius, which cost $2,500 per day, were all booked. The guides immediately started moving toward the area and were able to come to the man's rescue after seeing him attempt to retrieve his cellphone, according to Carabinieri's spokesperson. The guides also performed first...

The Volcanic Eifel is a peaceful region in western Germany. For hundreds of thousands of years, volcanic forces raged here, before settling down. But could these natural forces reawaken?Today's Volcanic Eifel was formed from cooled lava and volcanic ash. But deep below the surface, the earth is still bubbling. In fact, there are many indications that the rumbling underground is actually hot magma making its way to the Earth’s surface. How great is the danger of another eruption here in the Eifel, by far the youngest volcanic area in Central Europe?On the shores of the region’s Laacher See, a special...

A small but restive volcano south of the Philippine capital spewed a 1.5 kilometer (0.9 miles) plume on Saturday, prompting authorities to raise an alert level and evacuate more than a thousand residents. The alert for the Taal volcano, about 70 km (45 miles) south of central Manila, was increased to level 3 from level 2 on the 5-level scale, which the seismology and volcanology agency said meant "there is magmatic intrusion at the main crater that may further drive succeeding eruptions". Taal is one of the world's smallest active volcanoes. Despite standing at only 311 meters (1,020 feet), it...

A new NASA climate simulation suggests that extremely large volcanic eruptions called “flood basalt eruptions” might significantly warm Earth’s climate and devastate the ozone layer that shields life from the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. The result contradicts previous studies indicating these volcanoes cool the climate. It also suggests that while extensive flood-basalt eruptions on Mars and Venus may have helped warm their climates, they could have doomed the long-term habitability of these worlds by contributing to water loss. Unlike brief, explosive volcanic eruptions such as Pinatubo or January’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai that occur over hours or days, flood basalts are regions...

Thousands of people were evacuated in The Philippines on Saturday after a volcano erupted with plumes of steam and ash that went nearly two miles in the sky, Reuters reported. The threat level for Taal volcano, located in a lake south of the capital Manila, was raised from level two to level three on a scale of zero to five on Saturday morning after it spewed plumes that reached up to 9,800 feet, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said in a statement. A total of 1,100 people, including fisherman in the lake, were evacuated by authorities, PHIVOLCS...

Lower sea levels over the last 360,000 years are linked with more eruptions When sea level drops far below the present-day level, the island volcano Santorini in Greece gets ready to rumble. A comparison of the activity of the volcano, which is now partially collapsed, with sea levels over the last 360,000 years reveals that when the sea level dips more than 40 meters below the present-day level, it triggers a fit of eruptions. During times of higher sea level, the volcano is quiet, researchers report online August 2 in Nature Geoscience. Other volcanoes around the globe are probably similarly...

Alaska's Great Sitkin volcano is erupting, sparking a red warning, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said early on Thursday.

Archaeologists have been excavating the city of Berenike on Egypt's Red Sea coast on and off since 1994. Berenike was founded between 275 and 260 BC, but was temporarily abandoned sometime between 220 and 200 BC, before being repopulated for many centuries. After Egypt was annexed by the Roman Empire in 30 BC, Berenike became the empire’s southernmost port....the well dried up between 220 and 200 BC, and sand was blown into it by the wind. This sand is preserved in the well, and contains two bronze coins dating from the decades before 199 BC. Elsewhere in the fortress, there...