The rare undersea eruption a year ago has fascinated the scientific community, with many researchers visiting the area to study the ongoing impact of the explosion.
The volcanic eruption was the largest is over a century, sending shockwaves across the globe.
Marine geologists surveying the area around Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai say we understand frighteningly little about the hundreds of underwater volcanoes in the Pacific.
"We need more research to be better prepared and so having new data, telling us the evolution of the seafloor but also the evolution of the volcanic activity of these submarine volcanoes, will allow us to be better prepared," says marine geologist Marta Ribó Gené.
The caldera now lies 860 metres below the surface after the eruption, which was more powerful than a nuclear bomb, displaced 10 cubic kilometres of seafloor.
The impacts are still being felt as far afield as New Zealand, with NIWA meteorologist Richard Turner saying it could take five years for our ozone to recover.
"Some of the material got injected into space. It's enhanced the depletion of ozone and we've actually seen some lower levels of ozone than we normally see, and that's affected our UV levels here in New Zealand, they've been quite high this summer," says Turner.
SHARE ME