Talk:2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption and tsunami

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Restoring title "2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption and tsunami"[edit]

I moved the article back to its previous name since the rename (2021–22 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption and tsunami) by @Amakuru had no consensus. I restored the title 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption and tsunami because the year range misleads readers that a tsunami also occurred in 2021. The only time events of 2021 was relevant in the article are three paragraphs—none mentions a tsunami also. The bulk of the article discusses volcanic activity and tsunami of 2022.

I'm opening a discussion to see if anybody agree/disagrees with the restoration. Dora the Axe-plorer (explore) 02:51, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Dora the Axe-plorer: The very first sentence of the article reads "In December 2021, an eruption began..." If the scope of this article covers both the eruption and the tsunami, then it seems like it should be titled with the year range of the whole event. Which readers were confused by this? It seems like accuracy is more important than avoiding am unlikely misunderstanding in a title, anyway... Cheers  — Amakuru (talk) 08:16, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
the tsunami part ... ? Dora the Axe-plorer (explore) 11:52, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
This article covers both. The eruption started in 2021, so it is inaccurate to label it "2022" only... I don't understand why that would be confusing for anyone.  — Amakuru (talk) 12:04, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The volcano was declared dormant on 11 Jan 22—that was the end of the Dec–Jan eruptive sequence, directly quoting Tonga Geological Services. The 14 Jan and 15 Jan events would be a separate eruptive episode.
The title isn't completely wrong; there were eruptions in both years that were closely-spaced in time. The way I read it; including both years gives me the impression there were tsunamis in both years as well. There are no mention of a tsunami in 2021 and that's where I question the title, Dora the Axe-plorer (explore) 12:20, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Lightning flashes[edit]

I am questioning the accuracy of the paragraph about number of lightning flashes observed during the eruption: From 14 to 15 January 2022, tens of thousands of lightning flashes occurred. Between 05:00 and 06:00 UTC on 15 January 2022, 200,000 flashes were recorded.

The two sources given are National Geographic and a Tweet. The Twitter source claims a peak of 200,000 flashes per hour, and cumulative flashes over 11 hours totaling nearly four million. I can't read the whole NG article because it is paywalled, but from I did see, the peak rate was 5-6,000 per minute, which is compatible with the Tweet. However, a just published study (open access) covered by SciTechDaily says, The eruption produced just over 192,000 flashes (made up of nearly 500,000 electrical pulses), peaking at 2,615 flashes per minute. I have very little background on this topic, so I'm putting this here for any other editors deeper into the material to have a look at.

The factoid revealed in the study that drew me here is: Our analysis demonstrates that the 15 January eruption produced 2,615 flashes min−1 at its peak intensity (04:53), representing the most intense electrical storm ever detected by global networks (Table S3 in Supporting Information S1). This peak lightning rate is significantly higher than the next most lightning-rich case study in our analysis (cf. 993 flashes min−1, Table S3 in Supporting Information S1). but I wouldn't want to put it in the article unless the discrepancies I've noted are resolved. Xan747 (talk) 19:27, 23 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Eruption VEI[edit]

The VEI of the eruption seems still up to debate, or uncertain as it's in borderline territory 5-6? I have found this article: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf5493 evaluating it as VEI=6.3, article which isn't featured on this Wikipedia page. My English isn't good enough to add it to the page in a satisfying manner though. 2A01:CB1D:815B:6200:39AF:DFB2:9952:B4BA (talk) 18:05, 12 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]