Tonga鈥檚 volcanic eruption 鈥榚xposes global blind spot鈥�
Researcher says seafloor cables carry 99% of all digital traffic worldwide and while two thirds of the world鈥檚 volcanoes lie under the sea, they are not monitored.
Last year's Tonga volcanic eruption produced the fastest underwater flows ever recorded, say a team of international scientists.
Huge volumes of rock, ash and mud were clocked moving across the ocean floor at speeds of up to 122km/h (75mph).
These "density currents", as they're known, snapped long sections of telecommunications cabling, cutting the Pacific kingdom's link to the global internet. They also smothered and killed all sea-life in their path.
The underwater volcano, called Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai, erupted on January 15 2022.
Dr Mike Clare from the UK's National Oceanography Centre was a co-lead author on the report. He told Newsday: 鈥淚n terms of implication, it鈥檚 important for understanding threats to sea floor cables, which currently carry more than 99% of all digital traffic worldwide鈥his really exposes a blind spot in our understanding of underwater volcanos of which two thirds of the world鈥檚 volcanos actually lie under the sea and we have no monitoring.鈥�
(Picture: Shows a satellite image of an explosive eruption of the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai volcano on the 15th January 2022. Credit: Tonga Meteorological Services via Reuters.)
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