Surface-to-space atmospheric waves from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption

Corwin Wright; Neil Hindley; M. Joan Alexander; Mathew Barlow; Lars Hoffmann; Cathryn Mitchell; Fred Prata; Marie Bouillon; Justin Carstens; Cathy Clerbaux; S. M. Osprey; Nick Powell; Cora Randall; Jia Yue

doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05012-5

Surface-to-space atmospheric waves from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption

Corwin Wright, Neil Hindley, M. Joan Alexander, Mathew Barlow, Lars Hoffmann, Cathryn Mitchell, Fred Prata, Marie Bouillon, Justin Carstens, Cathy Clerbaux, S. M. Osprey, Nick Powell, Cora Randall, Jia Yue

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

177 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

The January 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai eruption was one of the most explosive volcanic events of the modern era ^1,2, producing a vertical plume that peaked more than 50 km above the Earth ³. The initial explosion and subsequent plume triggered atmospheric waves that propagated around the world multiple times ⁴. A global-scale wave response of this magnitude from a single source has not previously been observed. Here we show the details of this response, using a comprehensive set of satellite and ground-based observations to quantify it from surface to ionosphere. A broad spectrum of waves was triggered by the initial explosion, including Lamb waves ^5,6 propagating at phase speeds of 318.2 ± 6 m s ⁻¹ at surface level and between 308 ± 5 to 319 ± 4 m s ⁻¹ in the stratosphere, and gravity waves ⁷ propagating at 238 ± 3 to 269 ± 3 m s ⁻¹ in the stratosphere. Gravity waves at sub-ionospheric heights have not previously been observed propagating at this speed or over the whole Earth from a single source ^8,9. Latent heat release from the plume remained the most significant individual gravity wave source worldwide for more than 12 h, producing circular wavefronts visible across the Pacific basin in satellite observations. A single source dominating such a large region is also unique in the observational record. The Hunga Tonga eruption represents a key natural experiment in how the atmosphere responds to a sudden point-source-driven state change, which will be of use for improving weather and climate models.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	741-746
Number of pages	6
Journal	Nature
Volume	609
Issue number	7928
Early online date	30 Jun 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05012-5
Publication status	Published - 22 Sept 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
C.J.W. is supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, reference no. UF160545. C.J.W. and N.P.H. are supported by NERC grant no. NE/S00985X/1. M.J.A. and C.E.R. were supported by a NASA Heliophysics DRIVE Science Center (grant no. 80NSSC20K0628). C.N.M. was supported by NERC Fellowship NE/P006450/1 for work underpinning this research. C.C. and M.B. received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 742909, IASI-FT advanced ERC grant). J.C. was supported by the NASA AIM Small Explorer Program, contract no. NAS5-03132. The Australian Institute of Marine Sciences, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Tongan Met Office are thanked for provision of surface station pressure data. We thank I. Krisch, N. Kaifler and B. Kaifler (all at the DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany) for assistance with preliminary data analysis, A. Boynard (LATMOS, Paris, France) for providing the HO IASI data, S. Proud (RAL) for correcting some details of the geostationary imager measurements and E. Gryspeerdt (Imperial College, London, UK) for independent confirmation of the Lamb wave trigger time. 2

Funding Information:
C.J.W. is supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, reference no. UF160545. C.J.W. and N.P.H. are supported by NERC grant no. NE/S00985X/1. M.J.A. and C.E.R. were supported by a NASA Heliophysics DRIVE Science Center (grant no. 80NSSC20K0628). C.N.M. was supported by NERC Fellowship NE/P006450/1 for work underpinning this research. C.C. and M.B. received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 742909, IASI-FT advanced ERC grant). J.C. was supported by the NASA AIM Small Explorer Program, contract no. NAS5-03132. The Australian Institute of Marine Sciences, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Tongan Met Office are thanked for provision of surface station pressure data. We thank I. Krisch, N. Kaifler and B. Kaifler (all at the DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany) for assistance with preliminary data analysis, A. Boynard (LATMOS, Paris, France) for providing the H2 O IASI data, S. Proud (RAL) for correcting some details of the geostationary imager measurements and E. Gryspeerdt (Imperial College, London, UK) for independent confirmation of the Lamb wave trigger time.

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10.1038/s41586-022-05012-5Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Surface-to-space atmospheric waves from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha{\textquoteright}apai eruption",

abstract = "The January 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha{\textquoteright}apai eruption was one of the most explosive volcanic events of the modern era 1,2, producing a vertical plume that peaked more than 50 km above the Earth 3. The initial explosion and subsequent plume triggered atmospheric waves that propagated around the world multiple times 4. A global-scale wave response of this magnitude from a single source has not previously been observed. Here we show the details of this response, using a comprehensive set of satellite and ground-based observations to quantify it from surface to ionosphere. A broad spectrum of waves was triggered by the initial explosion, including Lamb waves 5,6 propagating at phase speeds of 318.2 ± 6 m s −1 at surface level and between 308 ± 5 to 319 ± 4 m s −1 in the stratosphere, and gravity waves 7 propagating at 238 ± 3 to 269 ± 3 m s −1 in the stratosphere. Gravity waves at sub-ionospheric heights have not previously been observed propagating at this speed or over the whole Earth from a single source 8,9. Latent heat release from the plume remained the most significant individual gravity wave source worldwide for more than 12 h, producing circular wavefronts visible across the Pacific basin in satellite observations. A single source dominating such a large region is also unique in the observational record. The Hunga Tonga eruption represents a key natural experiment in how the atmosphere responds to a sudden point-source-driven state change, which will be of use for improving weather and climate models. ",

author = "Corwin Wright and Neil Hindley and Alexander, {M. Joan} and Mathew Barlow and Lars Hoffmann and Cathryn Mitchell and Fred Prata and Marie Bouillon and Justin Carstens and Cathy Clerbaux and Osprey, {S. M.} and Nick Powell and Cora Randall and Jia Yue",

note = "Funding Information: C.J.W. is supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, reference no. UF160545. C.J.W. and N.P.H. are supported by NERC grant no. NE/S00985X/1. M.J.A. and C.E.R. were supported by a NASA Heliophysics DRIVE Science Center (grant no. 80NSSC20K0628). C.N.M. was supported by NERC Fellowship NE/P006450/1 for work underpinning this research. C.C. and M.B. received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 742909, IASI-FT advanced ERC grant). J.C. was supported by the NASA AIM Small Explorer Program, contract no. NAS5-03132. The Australian Institute of Marine Sciences, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Tongan Met Office are thanked for provision of surface station pressure data. We thank I. Krisch, N. Kaifler and B. Kaifler (all at the DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany) for assistance with preliminary data analysis, A. Boynard (LATMOS, Paris, France) for providing the HO IASI data, S. Proud (RAL) for correcting some details of the geostationary imager measurements and E. Gryspeerdt (Imperial College, London, UK) for independent confirmation of the Lamb wave trigger time. 2 Funding Information: C.J.W. is supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, reference no. UF160545. C.J.W. and N.P.H. are supported by NERC grant no. NE/S00985X/1. M.J.A. and C.E.R. were supported by a NASA Heliophysics DRIVE Science Center (grant no. 80NSSC20K0628). C.N.M. was supported by NERC Fellowship NE/P006450/1 for work underpinning this research. C.C. and M.B. received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 742909, IASI-FT advanced ERC grant). J.C. was supported by the NASA AIM Small Explorer Program, contract no. NAS5-03132. The Australian Institute of Marine Sciences, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Tongan Met Office are thanked for provision of surface station pressure data. We thank I. Krisch, N. Kaifler and B. Kaifler (all at the DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany) for assistance with preliminary data analysis, A. Boynard (LATMOS, Paris, France) for providing the H2 O IASI data, S. Proud (RAL) for correcting some details of the geostationary imager measurements and E. Gryspeerdt (Imperial College, London, UK) for independent confirmation of the Lamb wave trigger time. ",

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AU - Hindley, Neil

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AU - Mitchell, Cathryn

AU - Prata, Fred

AU - Bouillon, Marie

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AU - Clerbaux, Cathy

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AU - Powell, Nick

AU - Randall, Cora

AU - Yue, Jia

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Surface-to-space atmospheric waves from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption

Abstract

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Planetary and Gravity Waves as Drivers of Sudden Stratospheric Warmings

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Surface-to-space atmospheric waves from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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Other files and links

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Planetary and Gravity Waves as Drivers of Sudden Stratospheric Warmings

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