The NASA satellite image has captured volumes of water vapor sent into the stratosphere when a volcano off the island nation of Tonga erupted on January 15 this year.
This is 146 million tons of water – more than has ever been seen before and enough to fill 58,000 Olympic swimming pools, according to a new research study that has analyzed the images.
According to the study, the water vapor can remain in the stratosphere for several years and cause the Earth to become temporarily warmer.
More powerful than Hiroshima
The volcanic eruption off Tonga was the largest since 1883 and triggered a tsunami that killed three people and affected four-fifths of Tonga's population in various ways.
The eruption is said to have been hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II.