• MODIS Pic of the Day 16 January 2022

    From Dan Richter@1:317/3 to All on Sun Jan 16 11:00:42 2022
    January 16, 2022 - The Start of Something Big: Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Volcano

    Follow @NASA_MODIS

    Smoke From Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha
    Tweet
    Share

    On January 13, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
    (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of
    the start of something big—a massive volcanic eruption on from an
    undersea volcano in Tonga that triggered tsunami waves on January 15
    which impacted coastal areas from New Zealand to Alaska.

    This image captures a large gas, steam, and ash cloud pouring from the
    Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’pai volcano on January 13, just before an eruption
    flung a dark cloud of ash 55,000 feet (16,800 meters) into the air.
    Steam, gas, ash, and lava activity isn’t new at the volcano, which has
    been in a new eruptive phase since December 2021. However, the January
    13 large ash eruption came after about a week of relative quiet at the
    volcano.

    On January 14, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Wellington (VAAC)
    reported a very large eruption at Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’pai, based on
    satellite imagery. At that time, the steam obscured the ash plume and
    the height of the ash plume was unknown. According to the Global Alert
    and Disaster Coordination System (GDACS), a 5.8 magnitude earthquake
    was registered from Tonga on that day, at a depth of 5 km, with 800,000
    people within 100 km of the quake.

    By the morning of January 15, GDACS recorded a second large earthquake
    (4.5 magnitude) and the volcano exploded in a “major vent-clearing
    event”, according to a report from ABC NEWS in Australia. The eruption
    was heard in New Zealand, 1,300 miles away, and Alaska, which sits
    roughly 6,000 miles away. The powerful explosion—made even stronger by
    sizzling hot magma reacting with cold ocean water—triggered a tsunami.
    Waves washed over nearby islands, knocking down communication lines,
    flooding coastlines, and forcing evacuations from low-lying areas.
    Australia offered to send reconnaissance flights over Tonga’s islands
    to assess damage, but as of late on January 15, the thick plume of ash
    prevented such flights from occurring.

    Tsunami waves coursed across the vast Pacific Ocean, bringing surges of
    more than 3 feet to Alaska, coastal flooding in California, and smaller
    surges in Oregon, Washington State, British Columbia, Mexico, South
    America, Hawaii, and Japan. By the late evening of January 15, tsunami
    warnings had been downgraded or cancelled along most of the Pacific
    basin. Some speculate that the January 15 eruption was among the
    strongest in the 21st century—a theory that will be tested as
    scientists sort through data and damage estimates over the next few
    weeks or months.

    An astounding video of the massive eruption captured by NOAA's GOES
    West satellite on January 13 can be viewed here

    Image Facts
    Satellite: Aqua
    Date Acquired: 1/13/2022
    Resolutions: 1km (593.1 KB), 500m (1.5 MB), 250m (948.8 KB)
    Bands Used: 1,4,3
    Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



    https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-01-16

    --- up 6 weeks, 20 hours, 43 minutes
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)