There are more than 1,300 active volcanoes on the planet. Some erupt continuously for many years, while others erupt suddenly with little to no warning. On Jan. 15, 2022, the world was largely caught off guard with the world’s most violent volcanic eruption ever recorded with modern instruments. It occurred in Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HUNG-ah TONG-ah-HUNG-ah ha-AH-pie), Tonga, in the South Pacific.
But HT-HH, as it’s now sometimes called, hadn’t really come out of nowhere. This submarine volcano had erupted out of the ocean back in January 2015, creating a new island. The volcano was located 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, and joined together two small uninhabited islands called Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai. That’s where the volcano’s full name came from. After the 2022 eruption, small pieces of those two islands are the only parts of
