Underwater volcanic eruption of HUNGA TONGA-HUNGA HA’APAI at 3:10 PM AEDT on Saturday 15 January 2022 near TONGA ISLANDS [ latitude 20.54S, longitude 175.38W]
A massive underwater volcanic eruption off the island nation of Tonga has been felt across the south-western Pacific, with many tsunami warnings still in place, including for some of Australia's east coast and islands.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted at 3.10pm AEDT on Saturday, and tsunami waves have been observed as a result of the eruption.
Tsunami warnings were issued across much of the Pacific, including New Zealand, Canada, the US and Australia's Lord Howe, Norfolk and Macquarie islands.
The BOM has since downgraded the threat level for Australia, with marine warnings now only in place for NSW, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.
Witnesses in Tonga said the blast shook the earth for several minutes and sounded like rumbling thunder.
The volcano shock wave or sonic boom was clearly heard in Fiji — 1,000 kilometres from the eruption — and even detected as far away as Alaska, over 9,000 kilometres away.
