THE ERUPTION OF THE TONGA VOLCANO HAS TRIGGERED A TSUNAMI ACROSS THE PACIFIC
The Tonga Islands with almost 170 islands which are uninhabited are about 3500 km east of Australia. On January 14, 2022, the eruption of a volcano caused waves that hit Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the west coasts of North and South America for several days. The eruption was so strong that it was heard until the Fiji Islands (more than 800 km away). An atmospheric shock wave was also detected around the world.
When this underwater volcanic eruption occurred in the South Pacific near Tonga, satellites were in position to capture the event. Data satellites are immediately available to study the phenomenon and allow follow-up observations to be made. All the information collected by scientists thus facilitates emergency interventions and helps to better understand and anticipate this type of natural disaster.
The 4 poles of DATA TERRA as well as the Dinamis offer data make it possible to follow all the aspects of this eruption:
- THEIA (Continental surfaces): Mapping damage to guide rescue (in french)
- AERIS (Atmosphere): Views by geostationary satellites (in french
- FORM@TER (Solid Earth): Evolution of the morphology of the volcanic island Hunga Tonga by satellite imagery (in french)
- ODATIS (Ocean): Measurement by altimeter satellites (in french) and Access to REFMAR tidal data
- The DINAMIS catalogue , a French system of very high spatial resolution images, broadcasts and comparisons of satellite make it possible to assess the damage to the coasts.
