but the tonga explosion doesn't release radioactive fallout - just ash fallout which disappear after a "while".
So nuclear weapons are still worse.
So nuclear weapons are still worse.
* Create EMP blasts potentially disabling electronics over larger areas.
* Start fires in every direction for miles beyond the blast zone.
* Delegitimize nuclear energy. Sort of indirect but fear of nukes is why we don't invest heavily in safe fission alternatives with no weapons path.
* Have no real theoretical limit. 50MT has been donated. Designs have been shown up to 10GT.
Lightning causes EMPs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning#Transient_currents_d...) , so there were EMPs. I think/guess each one was a lot less powerful than that of a nuclear explosion, though.
But something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer would be devastating, if I read it right - Tonga might have been related too (there was a "mystery eruption" somewhere in the pacific).