Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai (HTHH) Volcano:
A new study published recently shows that the January 15, 2022, eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai Volcano could cause unusual weather for the rest of the decade.
- Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai (HTHH) is a submarine stratovolcano in the Tongan archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean.
- The HTHH volcano includes the small islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai, along with shallow reefs along the caldera rim of a much larger submarine edifice in the western South Pacific Ocean, west of the main inhabited islands in the Kingdom of Tonga.
- It is located about 30 km south of the submarine volcano of Fonuafoʻou and 65 km north of Tongatapu, the country’s main island.
- The volcano is part of the highly active Tonga–Kermadec Islands volcanic arc, a subduction zone extending from New Zealand north-northeast to Fiji.
- The Tonga-Kermadec arc was formed as a result of the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Indo-Australian Plate.
- It has erupted regularly over the past few decades.
Stratovolcano:
- It is a tall, steep and cone-shapedtype of volcano.
- Unlike flat shield volcanoes, they have higher peaks.
- They are typically found above subduction zones, and they are often part of large volcanically active regions, such as the Ring of Fire that frames much of the Pacific Ocean.
- Stratovolcanoes comprise the largest percentage(~60%) of the Earth’s individual volcanoes and most are characterized by eruptions of andesite and dacite, lavas that are cooler and more viscous than basalt.
