This falls under the category of "when it rains, it pours". A M7.9 earthquake struck today in the Tongan arc. It doesn't appear to be related to the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai eruption as it occurred a few hundred kilometers to the SSE of the volcano (remember folks, correlation does not mean causation). The earthquake looks like it was relatively shallow in the crust - ~10 km. All these events will definitely make life even more complicated for the people on Nuku'alofa (Tongatapu), but no word of damage/effects on the Tongan island. A tsunami advisory was also issued for Hawai'i and other spots around the Pacific Basin.
{Hat tip to my officemate Tatia for announcing the earthquake to us as it happened.}
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On Monday, airline passengers were the first to observe the eruption of the just-barely-above-the-water volcano that forms the islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai, in Tonga. Three days later, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred on the Tonga trench.
Was the timing of these two events just…
On Monday, airline passengers were the first to observe the eruption of the just-barely-above-the-water volcano that forms the islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai, in Tonga. Three days later, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred on the Tonga trench.
Was the timing of these two events just…
Update 2: PTWC has cancelled the regional warning. A tsunami was in fact generated, but the waves have been measured and are very small (about 1.5 inches in height).
Updated: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center states that a tsunami was generated by this earthquake. The size of the tsunami is…
OK, you can go back to lower ground now. The warning has been canceled.
From the BBC:
A tsunami warning has been issued for 11 nations in the south-west Pacific, including Papua New Guinea, after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake off Vanuatu.
The epicentre was 295km (180 miles) north-northwest of…
Do earthquakes or activity thats been going on around the Tongan islands this past week, damage the coral, sea life on the ocean floor?
What could be a possible effect of earthquake to the crops grown in Tonga?
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