The blast was very loud.
The volcano sent shock waves around the world. Scientists were awed by the images. The eruption pumped enough water into the atmosphere to fill over 50,000 swimming pools.
The water reached a higher altitude than where jetliners fly. Between 8 and 33 miles above Earth's surface is the stratosphere.
"We’ve never seen anything like it."
Luis Milln, an atmospheric scientist at NASA, said in a statement that they had never seen anything like it. The extreme water injection into the atmosphere was confirmed by observations from NASA's Aura satellite.
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Credit: NASA
Water from a single eruption will have a planetary impact. Water Vapor is a greenhouse gas, meaning it traps heat on the planet, like carbon dioxide, which is currently skyrocketing in Earth's atmosphere. NASA said that the water vapor impact won't be enough to make a difference.
Natural events like volcanic eruptions are not the cause of climate change.
The amount of water that came from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was four times the amount that came from the previous year. The basin where the eruption takes place is underwater. It is 500 feet under the surface and has enough water to make a big eruption.
NASA said that if the eruption happened deeper, the huge mass of seawater would have "muted" it. A blast that continues to astound scientists was created by all the right elements.
The planet is wild.