The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted Jan. 15, sending a large plume of ash some 26 miles into the atmosphere and creating a shockwave that traveled about 1,000 feet per second and a tsunami that struck Nuku'alofa, Tonga, and American Samoa. The eruption killed at least six people.
The blast also caused atmospheric impacts, reaching into the ionosphere across the globe, according to a paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
