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In January, a colossal undersea eruption rocked Tonga’s South Seas archipelago. A gigantic cloud of ash rises. Now it is clear: it even reached the mesosphere.

Tonga’s massive volcanic eruption earlier this year produced the highest ash plume ever recorded on Earth. At 57 kilometers, the eruption column even penetrated the third layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, the mesosphere.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have now confirmed this assumption. The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai submarine volcano erupted in mid-January, throwing a giant cloud of ash and gas miles high. The research work was published in the journal Science.

The colossal eruption unleashed tsunami waves that even hit Japan, Alaska and South America. For days after the eruption, there was little information about the Polynesian island nation, which lies 2,300 kilometers northeast of New Zealand.

The kingdom of 107,000 inhabitants was covered with a thick layer of ash, which also polluted the drinking water. The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai is located just 40 miles north of Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, below the surface of the sea. (sda/dpa)