On 14 January, the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai underwater volcano located 30 km southeast of Tonga erupted, followed by two more eruptions over the next two days. The eruption sent ash, gas and steam 20 km into the air, coating Nuku’alofa, Tonga’s capital. The first eruption was the largest recorded anywhere on the planet in 30 years and produced a series of tsunami waves across the Pacific ocean, affecting Nuku’alofa, the West Coast of the United States, Peru, New Zealand, and Japan.

Source: one, two