Template:POTD/2023-01-15
The 2021–22 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption and tsunami was a volcanic event caused by Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai, a submarine volcano in the Tongan archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean. Beginning in December 2021, the eruption reached a large and powerful climax on 15 January 2022. Described by scientists as a "magma hammer", the volcano produced a series of four underwater thrusts at the height of the eruption, displaced 10 cubic kilometres (2.4 cu mi) of rock, ash and sediment, and generated the largest atmospheric explosion recorded by modern instrumentation. The eruption caused tsunamis along the Pacific rim. This animation, depicting the initial ash plume and shockwave produced by Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai on 15 January 2022, was created by the Japan Meteorological Agency from sixteen photographs taken at ten-minute intervals by the Japanese weather satellite Himawari 8.Animation credit: Japan Meteorological Agency