Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
Providing science-based solutions to protect and restore ocean health
Bula! My name is Ulamila Matairakula and I am the Environmental Officer for the Pacific Blue Foundation (PBF). My work largely revolves around the Beqa Lagoon Seascape with interacting with local communities and villages about their marine resources. Being a Fijian …
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) has returned to Fiji! We’re here to help our partners at the Pacific Blue Foundation (PBF) survey reefs in Beqa Lagoon and share our findings from the Global Reef Expedition with traditional leaders and …
Today we’re interviewing our Chief Scientist, Dr. Sam Purkis, about his latest research paper, which measured the size of the 2022 eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga and the resulting tsunami.
Published in this month’s issue of Science Advances, the study found that the volcanic explosion in Tonga was the largest natural explosion in more than a century. The explosion was so large that it produced a tsunami that at one point was as tall as a 20 story building, and was similar in size to explosion of Krakatoa in 1883.
Q: What led you to do this research on the tsunami that hit Tonga last year?
A: It was the event itself that led us to start this study. We began work…
How big was the size of the tsunami that hit Tonga last year? A new study led by scientists at the University of Miami and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation measured the size of the Tongan tsunami and found that it was similar in size to the one caused by the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.
The 2022 eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga was more powerful than the largest U.S. nuclear explosion, according to a new study led by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.
The 15-megaton volcanic explosion from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, one of the largest natural explosions in more than a century, generated a mega-tsunami with waves up to 45-meters high (148 feet) along the coast of Tonga’s Tofua Island and waves up to 17 meters (56 feet) on Tongatapu, the country’s most populated island.
In a new analysis in Science Advances, researchers used a combination of before-and-after satellite imagery, drone mapping, field observations collected by scientists at The University of Auckland, and high-resolution bathymetric maps from the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation’s Global Reef Expedition, to produce a tsunami simulation of the Tongan Archipelago. The results showed how the complex shallow bathymetry in the region acted as a low-velocity wave trap, capturing a more than hour-long tsunami with waves up to 85 meters (279 feet) high one minute after the initial explosion.
In the Washington Post by Kasha Patel April 14, 2033 A new study estimated the Tonga volcanic explosion was 15 megatons, equivalent to 15 million tons of TNT The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai undersea volcano eruption in 2022 was larger than …
In Nature By Gemma Conroy April 14, 2023 Detailed analysis of the January 2022 event shows how underwater blasts generated huge waves that battered coastlines throughout the island nation. The events following last year’s massive eruption of an underwater volcano in the …
Published in Science Advances Abstract The 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption generated a once-in-a-century magnitude tsunami. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) volcanic eruption in January 2022 generated a catastrophic tsunami and contends for the largest natural explosion in more than a …
A new study led by scientists at the University of Miami and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation measured the size of the Tongan tsunami and found that it was similar in size to the one caused by the …
Recently, I participated in the Saudi National Center for Wildlife (NCW), workshop on managing outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The event took place in Riyadh, where experts from around the world were invited to share …
Lately, you have been hearing from our partners at the University of Miami (UM) about their experiences processing and picking tiny foraminifera from sand samples that we collected on the Global Reef Expedition (GRE). As our colleagues continue to process the large quantity (2,500) of sand samples, we are creating an educator’s guide called “Little Creatures with a Big Message.”
Together, the University of Miami and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to utilize microscopic organisms, called foraminifera (‘forams’ for short), to assess the state of coral reefs over the past 1,000 years, and potentially create new metrics that can be used to assess reef health.
NSF recognizes that a critical component to any research project is how it can benefit society. This is what NSF defines as the “Broader Impacts.” As a part of this grant, we will deliver on the broader impacts portion of the grant to educate and communicate this science to others. One of the ways will do this is by creating curriculum that improves STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education and increases participation of minorities in STEM.
