KOPRI’s icebreaker Araon maps colossal seafloor flows from Tonga volcano blast
Researchers from the Korea Polar Research Institute used the icebreaker Araon to conduct a high-resolution survey of the Tonga volcano following its 2022 eruption. The study revealed that a massive submarine caldera collapse occurred simultaneously with the eruption, displacing enough material to cover Seoul in 15 meters of debris.
Why it matters
Understanding the mechanics of submarine caldera collapses is critical for improving tsunami prediction models and assessing the risks posed by underwater volcanic activity globally.
The Araon, Korea’s only icebreaking research vessel, has confirmed through its survey that, during the massive eruption of the Tonga volcano in the South Pacific in January 2022, enough material swept across the seafloor to cover the entire area of Seoul with a layer 15 m thick.
The Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) announced on the 14th that, at the moment of the Tonga volcano’s eruption, a submarine caldera about 5 km across collapsed vertically by an average of roughly 1 km. The research results were published on the 11th in the international journal Nature Geoscience .
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