Tonga volcano tsunami warnings

Forester1

Well-known member
It sounds like Tonga got some big waves from the volcano, and there are warnings for the US, but what about the other direction? Any warnings for Australia, New Zealand, others to the west?
 
I haven't seen the news story. But if the tidal wave is caused by a landslide caused by the volcano, it will move from that point away from the island. Crescent City, California had a Tsunami cam on the Internet showing the harbor a few years ago. Might be a chance to see it hit shore if it gets that far north.

Here is the webcam.

https://www.ccharbor.com/sunset-cam

The opening of the harbor is in the middle of the screen. The rock jetty coming out from the left of the screen protects most of the ships while the jetty in the distance protects against waves from the north. Crescent City's harbor is very shallow. So any sort of wave is magnified to be very big.
 
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A tsunami is not a tidal wave.

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai is actually 2 islands joined by land created in recent eruptions. The volcanic vent between them has been active for the last few weeks and it changes the geology with each eruption. Most recent reports say the Jan 15 eruption was so large that the 2 islands are separated by water once again.
1482229220415721475


I’ve been following it on this youtube channel. This is his latest edition and he mentions warnings issued for Pacific islands and coastal nations including NZ, AU and US; https://youtu.be/B54HbfqDbK4

I've read in the Comments section that people as far away as Brisbane, Australia and Ninilchik, Alaska heard the rumble of shock/sound wave for about 15 minutes yesterday.


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Yes, I like that channel. Everyone thinks the voice-over is a robot reading, but it's his natural voice!

There's a stunning video (GIF) taken from a satellite directly overhead the island at the moment it erupted. You can see both the massive ash plume develop and also the initial atmospheric shock wave radiating out. It's on Twitter, Hopefully this link will take you to it; https://twitter.com/i/status/1482229220415721475


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That is an amazing satellite GIF, showing not only how fast the cloud built, but also the shockwave going out in the ocean below.
 
The Tsunami reached the coast of Australia around 11pm Sat (local time) - about 15hrs ago - it had a height of 0.4m to 0.8m (1ft to just under 3ft) depending on where you were. My sisters who live close to the coast were a bit worried, needlessly, while I live further inland at an altitude of 107m (351ft) and was far less concerned.

All part of the "thrill" of living on the Pacific Rim.
 
Nature is capable of such dramatic violence. Thanks for sharing the impressive video. It wouldn't be good to be close to that. Very bad for the local communities!

The local news media sources were warning people all day, but never said when the wave(s) would strike.
 
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I noticed that about the US west coast too. None of the notices seemed to have any timing, they just started cancelling them that evening.
 
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