Palma (Spain), June 30 (EFE) at least three times.
This is demonstrated by a study carried out by researchers from the Balearic Oceanographic Center, in the Spanish Balearic archipelago, published by the magazine “Scientific Report”, which points out that a phenomenon like this, known as a planetary meteotsunami, had only been detected in another occasion by modern scientific instruments: in the eruption of Indonesia’s Krakatoa in 1883.
Unlike tsunamis, significant oscillations in sea level caused by earthquakes or explosions, meteotsunamis are generated by rapid changes in air pressure that cause a sea wave and an atmospheric disturbance, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography explains in a note ( IEO), of which the Balearic center is a part.
The eruption of the Hunga Tonga submarine volcano on January 15 triggered an atmospheric and oceanic response that recorded an unprecedented number of scientific facilities.
The disturbance was picked up by hundreds of devices measuring changes in atmospheric pressure around the world with increases in energy in the high frequency band from 2 to 120 minutes.
In parallel, the equipment for measuring sea level oscillations recorded the impact of the passing of the atmospheric wave, with significant changes at the same frequency, between 2 minutes and 2 hours.
Due to these characteristics, the scientists point out that the Hunga Tonga meteotsunami had a global reach, although with greater oscillations on the Pacific coasts, where the main source of energy was the sea wave generated in the vicinity of the volcano during the explosion.
“In the Pacific Ocean, the observed sea level changes were the sum of two effects: a tsunami and a meteotsunami. With regard to the meteotsunami that affected the rest of the world, the amplitude and dominant frequency of the registered sea level oscillations showed a high spatial heterogeneity”, detailed the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.
He adds that “the shape of the continental shelves and the ports acted as tuners for the sea waves generated by the atmospheric disturbance.”
The main author of the study, Joan Villalonga, highlighted that the case of Tonga reveals “two phenomena: a tsunami originating in the place of the explosion that traveled to the Pacific coast and a meteotsunami generated worldwide by the atmospheric wave that was generated in the explosion.
Scientists from the Balearic Oceanographic Center, attached to the Higher Council for Scientific Research, the University of the Balearic Islands and the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (Imedea) have participated in the study.