British researchers used satellite-captured images to confirm that the Tonga volcano, which erupted in January, produced the highest plume ever recorded. This is also the first time the plume of a volcanic eruption has been seen extending through the lower atmosphere into the mesosphere. On January 15, an underwater volcano in the Tonga archipelago in the South Pacific erupted violently and triggered a devastating tsunami that left thousands homeless. It was the most powerful volcanic eruption ever observed, and the shock wave was felt around the world. The location of the Tonga volcano was covered by three geostationary weather satellites, and the researchers applied the parallax effect to the images captured by the satellites. Crucially, during the eruption, the satellite recorded images every 10 minutes, recording rapid changes in the plume’s trajectory. The results of the study showed that the plume reached a maximum height of 57 kilometers. significantly higher than the previous record. It also makes the plume the first observational evidence of a volcanic eruption, injecting material through the stratosphere directly into the mesosphere, about 50 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
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