According to the detection of the Microwave Limb Siren device on the Aura satellite of the US Aerospace Agency (NASA), a high amount of water vapor was sent to the stratosphere, which is located 12 to 53 kilometers from the Earth’s surface, in the explosion.
WATER TO FILL 58 THOUSAND OLYMPIC SWIMMING POOLS
In the statement made by NASA, it was stated that the water vapor mass in question contained enough water to fill 58 thousand Olympic swimming pools, and it was noted that the main reason for the excess amount was that the explosion took place at a depth of 150 meters from the ocean surface.
“We’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Luis Millan, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who led the study to examine the amount of water vapor the Tonga volcano sends into the stratosphere. used the phrase.
TEMPORARY HEATING OF THE EARTH’S SURFACE IS POSSIBLE
The statement pointed out that the associated steam is equal to 10 percent of the water currently in the stratosphere and is likely to temporarily warm the earth’s surface as it traps heat.
Excess water vapor may remain in the stratosphere for several years, but the warming effect will be small and not expected to worsen current climate crisis conditions, the researchers said.
The Microwave Limb Sounder instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite, launched in 2004, measures water vapor, ozone and other atmospheric gases around Earth.
VOLCANIC EXPLOSION IN TONGA
The volcano, located on Hunga Ha’apai Island, 65 kilometers north of Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga, which consists of approximately 170 islands in the Pacific Ocean, became active on January 15 and started spewing ash, steam and gas.
After the explosion, “tsunami” warnings were issued for Tonga, New Zealand, the USA, Canada, Chile and Japan, and the tsunami hit almost all the islands in Tonga.
Authorities stated that the eruptions in the volcano were 7 times more severe than their activity on 20 December last year. (AA)