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The 2022 eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga was more powerful than the largest U.S. nuclear explosion, according to a new study. A 15-megaton volcanic explosion from Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai generated a mega-tsunami with waves up to 85 meters (279 feet) high one minute after the explosion of "Blast 5", and hitting Tonga's coastlines up to 45-meters high (148 feet) at Tofua Island and waves up to 17 meters (56 feet) on Tongatapu. A new simulation in the study led by scientists at the University of Miami and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation also suggests that the eruption location relative to urban centers saved Tonga from a worse outcome.