The Largest Volcanic Eruption This Century Cleaned Up After Itself. And We Could Learn How To Do The Same

Summary: In 2022, the massive Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted, blasting out enough methane gas to equal the burps of two million cows! But scientists found a big surprise: the volcano actually cleaned up its own mess. The eruption mixed salty ocean water with iron-rich volcanic ash. When sunlight hit this mixture, it created a special chemical reaction that quickly destroyed the methane, turning it into a short-lived gas called formaldehyde.

Normally, methane warms our planet for about 10 years, but this volcano destroyed its methane in just days. Now, scientists hope to copy this amazing trick to help clean up human-made methane pollution and track it from space!

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