14 DAY TRIAL // The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano located not far from the coast of Tonga in the southern Pacific Ocean is now coughing out massive amounts of ash, smoke and steam into its surroundings.
Researchers and high officials in the area are closely monitoring the eruption and say that, just like the last time it pulled such a stunt a few years ago, the underwater volcano should soon calm down.
The eruption was weeks in the making
It is understood that the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, which sits at a distance of just 40 miles (roughly 65 kilometers) from Tonga's capital city, Nukuʻalofa, first started acting up a few weeks ago. Thus, this latest eruption started with just a few rumbles.
Earlier this week, the underwater volcano conjured up all its might and properly erupted. By Tuesday, the column of ash, smoke and Steam birthed by Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai reached a height of about 14,800 feet (some 4,500 meters).
What's more, folks who chanced to witness the event say that, when finally erupting, Tonga's Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano let out such a massive amount of muddy discharge that the water around it turned blood red.
As mentioned, specialists believe that it will not be long now until the volcano settles down. What's interesting is that, even after this eruption that began just a few days subsides, local waters could once again turn red, maybe even yellow.
Scientists say that this could happen because, when erupting, volcanoes release all sorts of compounds such as nitrogen and phosphorus that can encourage the formation of algae blooms of different colors in the sea surrounding the eruption site.
Not such a scary eruption, after all
If we're going to be honest here, we have to admit that the ash, smoke and steam cloud that formed above the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano in the aftermath of this week's eruption is nothing short of impressive.
Still, it looks like, other than force authorities to cancel international flights to and from Tonga, the volcano's latest fit didn't interfere with life in this corner of the world all that much. On the contrary, DM tells us that domestic flights were not affected.
In case anyone was wondering, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano last erupted back in March 2009. At that time, it tossed and turned for about a week before going back to sleep. For those more curious of the bunch, a photo documenting this previous eruption is available below.
