Energetic output of the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai volcanic eruption from pressure measurements

Abstract

AbstractThe violent eruption of the volcano at Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai island on January 15, 2022, generated an intense pressure wave registered by instruments all over the world. Using public reports posted on social media, we have used the arrival time of the first passage of the wave to measure its velocity, found to be a constant $$1114\pm 2$$ 1114 ± 2 km/h ($$309\pm 1$$ 309 ± 1 m/s). An empirical pressure–distance relation that utilizes measurements from a large range of sources is used to estimate an energetic output. We find that this Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai volcanic eruption released approximately the equivalent of 61 Mt, which is considerably larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens and slightly higher than the yield of Tsar Bomba, the largest human-made explosion in history.