 A cyfnod hynny yn ymwyloedd y mae'r unig yn gweithio cyffredig yn gyfryd y Llywodraeth Llywodraeth i'w ddangos atiolagol. Yn ymwneud yma yw'r wneud yma o'ch cynnig a'r Senami, yna ymddi'r Unig yn ymwneud yw'r rhwng o'r eu hunan hynny. Yn ymwneud yw yn ymwneud yw'r cyffredig o'r newidau yn ymgyrchol ymlaen ymlaen o'r Togwb Tapw, ac ymddi'r cyffredig erbyn ymwneud hynny. Llywodraeth, Llywodraeth Llywodraeth, was badly damaged as where resorts and homes along the island was in bitches. We are of course in contact through our High Commissioner in Llywodraeth, but communications are very restricted. We are seeking further information about the extent of the damage outside Llywodraeth itself. But today we have been able to deploy a Royal Australian Air Force P8 to undertake surveillance activity over the affected area. Working very closely with New Zealand, who I understand have deployed one of their P3s to work on that surveillance activity themselves. This is a very challenging time. Communications are deeply, deeply affected by the events of the volcanic eruption. It has been felt in other parts of the region we know ourselves. Here in Australia we have seen the effects on our own coastline. And we have joining us now Dr Robin George Andrews. He's an award-winning science journalist. And of course he has written Time Lord and he's the author of Super Volcanoes, what they reveal about the earth and the world beyond. Thank you so much Dr for joining us. Thanks for having me. Great. Kind of walk us through what's happened in Tonga and what's really unique and different about this particular tsunami and the volcanic eruption. Yeah so this kind of eruption started out quite normally for this sort of submarine oceanic eruption. You have all these islands in the area and they're all volcanic to some degree and they tend to erupt explosively. But the explosion we saw on Saturday was thought to be like a one in a thousand year event. The eruptions leading up to that were kind of like the magma chamber just leaking a little bit. But the magma chamber was so full at that point that something pushed came to shove and the whole thing kind of exploded. That's what created that really big blast. It's not clear what caused the tsunami specifically, but the fact that it happened immediately after this big explosion is not a coincidence. But scientists are trying to work out whether part of the volcano collapsed underwater or there was an underwater explosion as well. But that's still to come kind of thing. But the hope is now that after that giant explosion the worst is over. And it's kind of remarkable that there hasn't been more devastation really because I think that was one of the biggest explosions of the 21st century. There's a shockwave and it went around the world so it was pretty big. Interesting. Is that the only location where the eruption took place or were there multiple eruptions in other places? Did it reverberate in surrounding areas? We see that fidges surrounded by Australia and New Zealand on the other hand. So did they feel the shocks from those parts? Yes, so the tsunami did sort of spread around the Pacific Ocean. In fact, the shockwave from the blast was so powerful that it actually created a small tsunami in the Caribbean. And that's a really rare thing to see. I think that's the first time it's ever been recorded as coming from a volcano, that kind of trans-oceanic tsunami. So there were like massive regional effects. But in terms of other volcanoes it was just this volcano that was erupting. Volcanoes don't really have an effect on each other so this volcanic eruption was kind of isolated. And I think it looks like it's petering out now. It's kind of slowing down. But scientists are obviously still keeping an eye on it just in case. Because volcanoes can kind of pick up again even after a big bang. But yeah, hopefully the worst is over. Well, I saw a post that you put up on Twitter talking about it, you know, breaking lightning records. What's that about? Yeah, so volcanic lightning happens when you have particles of ash that bump into each other. And that kind of creates friction which creates electricity. Like that kind of, like if you rather balloon it on a jumper and then put it on your head kind of thing, it can stick. It's the same kind of science behind it. And if you have ash bumping into ice particles, that can create a lot of electricity too. So eruptions at sea often have quite a lot of lightning going on. Partly because the explosive nature of them when the magnum meets the water kind of creates so much ash that it can kind of create lots of electricity. But scientists aren't quite sure why it created so much. So at one point it was creating 200,000 lightning strikes an hour, which is easily a record. It was the most electric point on the planet one scientist told me at one point. So it's quite extraordinary, but no one's quite sure why that was yet. Yeah, we hear that Tonga needs international support following the massive eruption and the tsunami. Although the full extent of the damage is yet to be assessed. So also there have been warnings of invisible toxic gas over the vicinity. What's the implication of that toxic gas over the vicinity? Will it one way or the other affect the evacuation process? I think the toxic gas problem, I'm not entirely sure, but it hasn't really come up. But I suspect that the other islands are far away enough that the gas isn't necessarily a problem because it will have dispersed by that point. Really the ashfall is going to be a huge problem. I've seen satellite images before and after of islands, and apart from the fact that a large number of settlements have been washed away by the tsunami, the ashfall is going to be a problem for things like agriculture and it short circuits power lines, it blocks up sanitation. It really can take a long time to clear. So there's no doubt about it. This is a horrific disaster for Tonga, especially it's a nation of maybe 100,000 people. Any country nearby this would have been fairly devastated by this sort of eruption, but the fact that it's quite a small nation makes it even more acute. So hopefully they get all the aid that they need as quickly as possible. I want to say thank you. Dr Robin George Andrews is an award-winning science journalist. Thank you so much for speaking with us. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Hello. Hope you enjoyed the news. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.