Some reports and speculation that this is as big or bigger than Pinatubo in 1991, which caused enough global dimming to dampen climate warming for about 2 years.
I’ll update as things evolve.
My friend Dr Stefan Rahmstorf tweets:
The climate impact depends on how many sulphate aerosols were thrown into the stratosphere. For a violent eruption in the tropics (like Pinatubo 1991) this can result in 2 to 3 slightly cooler years in global temperature
Random thoughts:
Both latitude and planet angle make a difference as to how much insolation gets blocked by volcanic plumes, all other things being equal.
Pinatubo is at latitude 15.15°N
Hunga Tonga is at latitude 20.57°S
It’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere, so that should give a southern-latitude volcano more influence right now.
Tonga is an archipelago consisting of four clusters of islands, located northeast of Australia. With sea level rise at twice the global average speed, communities have already begun forced relocation. https://earth.org/data_visualization/sea-level-rise-by-2100-tonga/