Small Undersea Volcanoes May Unleash Outsized Tsunamis

Scientists reconstruct one of this century's most explosive volcanic eruptions to explore its role in a tsunami

In 2022, the eruption and collapse of an underwater volcano in Tonga caused a devastating tsunami that killed four people, disrupted seafloor ecosystems and damaged critical seafloor telecommunications cables. It was one of the most powerful volcanic events this century.

Small Undersea Volcanoes Could Trigger Surprisingly Large Tsunamis, Hunga Study Finds

New research into the devastating 2022 Hunga volcanic eruption in Tonga suggests that even relatively small underwater volcanoes may be capable of generating dangerous tsunamis when their calderas collapse rapidly. Detailed mapping of the seafloor has given scientists a clearer picture of how Hunga’s roughly 2.5-mile-wide caldera sank nearly two-thirds of a mile during the [...]

Small undersea volcanoes may unleash outsized tsunamis

Post-eruption imaging of the Hunga caldera gives new details of its collapse.

Hunga Volcano's Seafloor Collapse in 2022 Unleashed a Cascade of

Seafloor mapping shows the centre of Tonga's Hunga volcano collapsed by over one kilometre during the 2022 eruption, displacing 8.9 cubic kilometres of material and driving tsunamis, a stratospheric plume and severed cables.