"The volcano on Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai first erupted on Dec. 20 and then exploded with a massive eruption on Jan. 13, which was also spotted by GOES West, NOAA officials said in a statement. That eruption was seven times more powerful than the December event and sent a huge plume of ash and gas over 12 miles into Earth's atmosphere.
The eruption spawned a 4-foot tsunami that hit Tonga's capital of Nuku’alofa, which is about 40 miles south of the volcano. A sonic boom from the eruption was heard across the Pacific Ocean, reaching as far away as Alaska.According to a statement by the Tsunami Warning Center of US National Weather Service, a tsunami warning has been issued for the west coast of the US from Alaska to California, and the west coast of Canada.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said Hawaii could also be affected, but damage to other islands hit by tsunami so far is minimal. Waves from the biggest tsunami threat to the West Coast in more than a decade arrived early Saturday morning with the rising morning tide and continued pulsating onshore throughout the day. All eyes were on the coast, and while the drama shut down the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and disrupted the day for beachgoers, by sunset the Bay Area appeared to dodge significant damage." SCS
"NASA is currently working on a 2005 task outlined by the US
Congress to catalogue and track an absolute majority of potentially dangerous NEOs – objects in space that come as close as 45 million kilometres to Earth's orbit around the Sun.