Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai is a submarine volcano in the South Pacific located about 30 km south of the submarine volcano of Fonuafoʻou and 65 km north of Tongatapu, Tonga's main island. It is part of the highly active Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone and its associated volcanic arc, which extends from New Zealand north-northeast to Fiji, and is formed by t…
Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai is a submarine volcano in the South Pacific located about 30 km south of the submarine volcano of Fonuafoʻou and 65 km north of Tongatapu, Tonga's main island. It is part of the highly active Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone and its associated volcanic arc, which extends from New Zealand north-northeast to Fiji, and is formed by the subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Indo-Australian Plate. It lies about 100 km above an active seismic zone. The volcano rises around 2,000 m from the seafloor and has a caldera which – on the eve of the 2022 eruption – was roughly 150 m below sea level and 4 km at its widest extent. The only major above-water part of the volcano are the twin uninhabited islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Haʻapai, which are respectively part of the northern and western rim of the caldera. As a result of the volcano's eruptive history, the islands existed as a single landmass from 2015 to 2022: they were merged by a volcanic cone in a volcanic eruption in 2014–2015, and were separated again by a more explosive eruption in 2022, which also reduced the islands in size. The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcano has recorded seven historical eruptions.
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