Tonga volcano: visualizing the shockwave propagation

Using air pressure data to animate the shockwave traveling across the U.S.

Introduction

On Jan. 15, 2022, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, a volcano to the north of Tonga, went through a violent eruption. The explosion, unleashing energy equivalent to tens of megatons of TNT and triggering a tsunami, was so violent that the acoustic shockwave propagated across the surface of the entire planet.

Interestingly, as the shockwave propagates, it compresses the air and …

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