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Tonga volcano explosion was so severe it made atmosphere 'ring like a bell'

Tonga volcano explosion was so severe it made atmosphere 'ring like a bell'

Underwater volcano off Tonga

The Tonga volcano erupted violently on January 15 and sent life in the small Pacific island nation into disarray. The country was cut off from the world for days as its only airport was rendered unusable due massive amount of ash.

Everyone knows that it was a major eruption. But just how horrific the power of it all is becoming more and more evident as days go by.

In addition to spewing lava, smoke and ash, the volcano explosion caused Earth's atmosphere to 'ring like a bell'.

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NASA's chief scientist James Garvin has been quoted as saying that the volcanic eruption was 500 times as powerful as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima towards the end of Second World War.

Effects of the volcanic eruption were felt thousands of miles away on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. The effects of the tsunami caused by the eruption were felt as far as Peru.

In addition to this, the volcano created atmospheric pressure waves that travelled around the world at speeds of around 650 miles per hour. Scientists say that these waves literally made Earth's atmosphere 'ring like a bell'.

But was this 'bell' audible? Unlikely.

The actual frequency of the sound waves was out of the auditory range of humans.