The scientific consensus on the January 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption has shifted from immediate shock to a deep understanding of its long-term legacy. A major international report released in late December 2025 confirms that this was not just a volcanic event, but a "stratospheric water-bomb" that reshaped atmospheric chemistry in ways never before seen in the satellite era. The eruption injected approximately 150 million metric tons of water vapor into the stratosphere—enough to fill