New evidence-based model for climactic 2022 Hunga (Tonga) eruption

The authors present a new evidence-based model that describes how the formation of a gas seal led to the amassing and release of enough explosive energy within minutes to form a 58 km high ash plume, a deep crater, and atmospheric shock waves that promulgated the entire planet.

This model proposes that the powerful eruption was caused by a gas-driven climactic explosion rather than a phreatomagmatic one - where magma and water react violently through the water column.

Learn More:

• Listen to a short interview on Radio NZ(external link) with Dr. Cornel de Ronde (GNS Science).
• Read the GNS Science Media Release.(external link)
• Read the full paper(external link).

To further investigate the evidence, an international marine voyage to Hunga Volcano, including members of the Raranga Whāriki Papa Moana | Beneath The Waves team, will occur from 14 May to 12 June 2024. The team aim to collect geological, geophysical and water column data inside the crater and over the flanks of the submerged eruption vent.