After the submarine volcano in the South Pacific island nation of Tonga erupted on the 14th, it erupted violently again on the 15th. Tonga A large-scale failure occurred in local Internet and telephone lines, making it difficult for more than 100,000 residents across the country to contact the outside world.
The Kingdom of Tonga
Tonga is mainly composed of three large islands and more than a hundred small islands, 36 of which are inhabited.
The moment the Tonga volcano erupted
Scientific pigs learned that there were no residents living on the Hong'aha'apai island closest to the submarine volcanic eruption. How lucky !
Experts estimate that the volcanic eruption in Tonga was between level 5 and 6. The volcano level is divided like this: html level 10 refers to volcanoes with "non-explosive eruptions", such as some volcanoes on the Hawaiian Islands .
The volcano level of "explosive eruption" ranges from level 1 to level 8. For every additional unit, the energy released increases 10 times.
Tonga Volcano Cloud
Level 1 volcanoes such as the Italian Stromboli Island volcano will make a roar almost every few minutes, and then emit smoke columns, steam and debris, rising hundreds of meters into the air, so that it has become an "attraction" to attract tourists.
Stromboli Island, Italy
Secondary volcano. The resurgent eruption of Mount Sinabung in Indonesia in August 2010 fell into this category. Before this, the volcano had been silent for 400 years; after this eruption, it erupted almost every year, and in some years it erupted multiple times.
The Unzendake volcano in Japan that erupted in June 1991 was also a Level 2 volcano. The hot volcanic ash flow it erupted killed dozens of people, including several world-renowned volcanologists.
Tonga volcano satellite cloud image satellite cloud image
Level 3 volcanoes such as Colombia's Ruiz Volcano erupted in November 1985, killing more than 20,000 people.
Mainly because the hot volcanic gas and ash melted the glaciers covering the top of the volcano, and the lahar formed by the melted glacier water and volcanic debris poured down, sweeping across the city of Almero dozens of kilometers away, killing three-quarters of the city's population.
Colombia's Ruiz Volcano
Level 4 volcano. In 1902, Mount Pelé on the Caribbean island of Martinique erupted, turning a tourist resort into ashes in an instant and killing 29,000 people.
Therefore, eruptions like this that produce high-viscosity magma and hot ash clouds are named "Pele" eruptions .
The moment Tonga volcano erupted
Level 5 volcanoes such as Mount St. Helens in Washington State, USA, erupted in 1980, killing 57 people. The famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in history also belonged to Category 5.
In the 79 AD eruption, volcanic ash and debris flow buried the two ancient cities of Pompeii and Stabia, causing at least 3,300 deaths.
Mount Vesuvius
A six-level volcano such as Krakatoa in Indonesia erupted in 1883. The huge roar spread nearly 4,800 kilometers away, and huge waves swept across the world, killing 36,000 people.
The largest volcanic eruptions in the 20th century so far belong to Level 6. For example, the Santa Maria volcano in Guatemala erupted in 1902, the Novarupta volcano in Alaska, the United States, erupted in 1912, and the Pinatubo volcano in Luzon Island, the Philippines erupted in 1991.
A seven-level volcano. The largest and deadliest volcanic eruption in recorded history in the world, the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia, was a Category 7 eruption.
Volcanic ash entered the stratosphere and spread around the world, causing the global average temperature to drop by at least 3°C. 1816 became the "year without summer". Crops failed in large numbers and water sources were polluted. 92,000 people around the world died directly or indirectly from the volcanic eruption.
The eighth-level volcano is also called a super volcano. Once it erupts, it will have an immeasurable impact on the course of human history.For example, the eruption of the Campi Flegrei volcano near Naples, Italy, 39,000 years ago may be an important reason for the extinction of Neanderthals.
html The Toba super volcano in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, erupted 174,000 years ago, killing more than 60% of the world's living creatures. This was followed by a volcanic winter of 6 to 10 years and a cold period of 2000.
According to geologists' estimates, the Yellowstone volcano has erupted hundreds of times in history, with the earliest eruption being 16.5 million years ago and the last eruption 635,000 years ago. Geologists have discovered that in the past 36 million years, Category 8 volcanoes have erupted 42 times.
The most recent eruption was 26,500 years ago at the Taupo volcano in the South Pacific. The destructive power of super volcanoes is astonishing. Once they erupt, they will seriously threaten all living things on the earth.
However, the frequency of super volcanic eruptions is generally once in tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. If we are really afraid of super volcanoes, all we can do is stay away from them.
The following is a detailed list of the six existing super volcanoes in the world compiled by Scientific Pig:
. Toba Super Volcano, located in Lake Toba in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia.
. The Yellowstone supervolcano is located in the Yellowstone National Park in the northwest corner of Wyoming in the midwestern United States.
. The Aila supervolcano is located in Kagoshima in southern Japan.
. Valles Supervolcano, located in New Mexico, USA
. Taupo Supervolcano, located on the North Island of Waikato, New Zealand
. Long Valley Supervolcano, located in the Long Valley Valley in the center of eastern California, USA
Reference: Amway. Eight levels of volcanic eruption intensity [J]. Encyclopedia Knowledge, 2020(14):28-29. DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1002-9567.2020.14.010.
