In December 2021, an eruption began at Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, a submarine volcano in the Tongan archipelago of the southern Pacific Ocean, part of the highly active Tonga-Kermadec Islands volcanic arc. The eruption reached a powerful climax on January 15, 2022, rated at least VEI-5, displacing about 10 cubic kilometers of rock, ash and sediment through a series of four underwater thrusts described by scientists as a magma hammer, and it generated the largest atmospheric explosion recorded by modern instruments, along with a destructive tsunami.
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