Washington — The powerful January 15 underwater eruption of Tonga’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano in the South Pacific produced a plume that soared higher into Earth’s atmosphere than any other on record – about 57 km – as it extended more than halfway to space, researchers said on Thursday.

• The January 15 underwater eruption of Tonga’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano produced a plume that extended more than halfway to space.
• The plume extended through the bottom two layers of the atmosphere, the troposphere and stratosphere, and about 7 km into the mesosphere.
• The plume was composed primarily of water with some ash and sulphur dioxide mixed in, according to a new study that came to these conclusions.
• The deafening eruption sent tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean and produced an atmospheric wave that traveled several times around the world.

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