The January eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano offered scientists a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to investigate how the atmosphere functions, unlocking secrets to better anticipate the weather and changing climate, a report

in Newsweek said.

Through the expulsion of particles into the high atmosphere, some strong eruptions can also have a cooling effect on the climate, though the amount produced by Hunga Tonga does not appear sufficient for a notable climate effect, unlike other volcanic eruptions over the last century, like the Pinatubo eruption in Alaska in 1991,” he added.

Researchers from the University of Bath led the team, which included researchers from 10 institutions.

The volcano, which is located in the South Pacific country of Tonga, became active on December 20, 2021, and erupted on January 15, 2022.

The blast was more powerful than an atomic weapon and demolished one of the country’s numerous islands, said American space agency NASA.

The volcano began to emit a thick cloud of black ash, sulphur dioxide, and steam in the weeks leading up to the eruption. When the volcano erupted, it destroyed numerous homes on adjacent islands with 100,000 times the intensity of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb, put out a pressure wave that circled the globe many times, and generated a cloud of ejecta that towered over 30 miles high, Newsweek reported.

The blast was more powerful than an atomic weapon and demolished one of the country’s numerous islands, said American space agency NASA.

The volcano began to emit a thick cloud of black ash, sulphur dioxide, and steam in the weeks leading up to the eruption. When the volcano erupted, it destroyed numerous homes on adjacent islands with 100,000 times the intensity of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb, put out a pressure wave that circled the globe many times, and generated a cloud of ejecta that towered over 30 miles high, Newsweek reported.