WATCH THE WATER - AUGUST 6TH

Tonga underwater volcanic eruption blasted 58,000 Olympic swimming pools-worth of water into the stratosphere and could weaken the ozone layer, NASA warns

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11084127/Water-blasted-Tonga-underwater-volcano-weaken-ozone-layer-scientists-warn.html




Tonga's volcanic eruption in January blasted enough water to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools - and could weaken the ozone layer. Scientists who examined the amount of water vapour ejected by the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano describe it as 'unprecedented'. The powerful steam was formed when seawater in the South Pacific came into contact with the lava and was 'superheated'. The eruption created sound waves heard as far as Alaska 6,200 miles away, in a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. In a new study, experts from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory predict the volume of water could be enough to temporarily affect the global average temperature. 'We've never seen anything like it,' said atmospheric

WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE JANUARY TONGA ERUPTION? 

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, an underwater volcano in the South Pacific, spewed debris as high as 25 miles into the atmosphere when it erupted on January 15.
It triggered a 7.4 magnitude earthquake, sending tsunami waves crashing into the island, leaving it covered in ash and cut off from outside help. 
It also released somewhere between 5 to 30 megatons (5 million to 30 million tonnes) of TNT equivalent, according to NASA Earth Observatory.  

Digital elevation maps from the NASA Earth Observatory also show the dramatic changes at Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, the uppermost part of a large underwater volcano. 
Prior to the explosion earlier this month, the twin uninhabited islands Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai were merged by a volcanic cone to form one landmass.
Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai are themselves remnants of the northern and western rim of the volcano's caldera – the hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber. 
NASA said the eruption 'obliterated' the volcanic island about 41 miles (65km) north of the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa, on the island of Tongatapu (Tonga's main island).
It blanketed the island kingdom of about 100,000 in a layer of toxic ash, poisoning drinking water, destroying crops and completely wiping out at least two villages.
It also claimed at least three lives in Tonga and resulted in the drowning deaths of two beachgoers in Peru after freak waves hit the South American country.  
Peruvian authorities have declared an environmental disaster after the waves hit an oil tanker offloading near Lima, creating a huge slick along the coast.