The volcanic eruption near Tonga last year was so big it created a hole in the ozone layer.
Scientists say the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai eruption shot out an unprecedented amount of water vapour into the sky, reaching heights of up to 55 kilometres.
That increased humidity in the stratosphere and led to the depletion of 5 percent of the ozone layer above the Pacific and Indian Oceans in just one week.
And while scientists say it's a significant amount, it's not as large as the Antarctic ozone hole that happens every spring where 60 percent is depleted.
It was heard from afar, felt across the world, and even seen from space.
The Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai volcanic eruption in January last year was more powerful than a nuclear explosion and powerful enough to create a mini hole in the ozone layer according to new research published on Friday.
"There seems to have been a really rapid and short-lived ozone depletion that occurred," said University of Canterbury Associate Professor Laura Revell.
Five days after the eruption, scientific equipment was sent up to the sky carried by balloons from Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
And they found that an unprecedented amount of water vapour shot up higher than ever recorded.
"The plume reached 55km, the mesosphere, it's very unusual in the known record so that water along with other volcanic particles caused unusual ozone depletion," said NIWA principal scientist of atmosphere and climate Olaf Morgenstern.
A 5 percent depletion in just five days.
"The extra influx of water vapour has just created conditions that were ripe for a rapid ozone depletion to occur," said Prof Revell.
The ozone layer is a gas that shields us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation.
"It's significant but still very small compared to the very large ozone depletion of about 60 percent that we see for three months of the year over Antarctica every springtime," said Prof Revell.
There were concerns the added vapour was going to further deplete the Antarctic ozone hole. But so far it hasn't.
"That water vapour is going to be in the stratosphere for another four to five years. Time will tell, we'll have to continue to look at what's happening to the atmospheric chemistry to look at what the impacts are," said Prof Revell.
The full effects of this massive eruption are not over yet.
