Volcanic Eruption May Be Biggest Ever Seen From Space

[titsonritz]

In the last 24 hours we've seen a huge explosive volcanic from the Tongan island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai - the blast is so large it's easily visible from multiple satellites in geostationary orbit, tens of thousands of miles up. The blast sent a soundwave around the world which is still being measured and the resulting tsunami caused flooding around the pacific ocean.

Santa Cruz gets a tsunami actions, with high waves all over the West Coast.

Japan Faces Three Meter High Tsunami Threat After Undersea Volcano Eruption In South Pacific

[SteyrAUG]

Growing up in the 80s the news would have told us about the eruption and we'd have seen some "12 hours after the fact" footage and been "Meh...no biggie."

To actually see the event and the related scale...holy crap.

[utahjeepr]

The imagery is awesome. I have only seen one estimate of VEI scale putting it at a tentative "4" which, though big, still makes it a bit of a minor geological fart.

All told though, it probably released twice the greenhouse gasses and particulates as all of mankind's industrial history.

[chuckman]

That video was just amazing. Why do we need to worry about us killing each other when the earth can do it so much easier?

I also saw the videos of the tsunamis in Tonga and some of the other islands. Feel bad for them.

[Grand58742]

Here's a little more about the eruption if anyone's interested.

[davidjinks]

That was huge! I watched some of the time lapse photos from, I think NOAA, and I can’t even imagine the amount of energy that that created.

[AKDoug]

The sound waves were loud enough to be heard 100 miles inland where I am at in Alaska.

[TheGhostRider]

Here's a little more about the eruption if anyone's interested.

Thank you for posting the vid. Makes Mount St. Helens look like a walk in the park. When old Yellowstone pops its gonna be epic... Makes me understand just how fragile and insignificant man really is.

Arguing with Mother Nature:
Me: I've got an AK/AR and a couple hundred rounds of ammo and a really sharp knife and the experience to use them!
Mother Nature: "Oh really... I've got Volcano's, Tsunami's, Tornado's, Earthquakes, Landslides, FIRE, Wind, Floods, pests... Oh... did I mention the Volcano's?

[utahjeepr]

Actually Mt. St. Helens was a little bigger (5 vs 4).

If one watches the common video of St. Helens it doesn't look as impressive before the camera gets wiped out, but it was pretty devastating. I have a Polaroid I took from about 30,000ft a week after. It's a color pic, but you'd swear it was B/W.

[RUTGERS95]

mt st helens info, pretty good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCtmECVnrOM