Observational study of the heterogeneous global meteotsunami generated after the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai Volcano eruption

Abstract

The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai volcano eruption of January 15th 2022 generated a global atmospheric and oceanic response that was recorded by an unprecedented amount of sensors. The eruption caused an atmospheric perturbation that travelled as a Lamb wave surrounding the Earth at least 3 times, and was recorded by hundreds of barographs worldwide. The atmospheric wave showed complex patterns of amplitude and spectral energy content, although most of the energy was concentrated in the band (2–120 min). Simultaneously to each passage of the atmospheric wave and after, significant Sea Level Oscillations (SLOs) in the tsunami frequency band were recorded by tide gauges located all around the globe, in what it can be referred to as a global meteotsunami. The amplitude and dominant frequency of the recorded SLOs showed a high spatial heterogeneity. Our point is that the geometry of continental shelves and harbours acted as tuners for the surface waves generated by the atmospheric disturbance at open sea, amplifying the signal at the eigenmodes of each shelf and harbour.

The 2022 Tonga Tsunami on the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts of the Americas

“…Similarly, the 2022 Tonga‐Hunga volcanic eruption produced intense atmospheric waves that circled the globe (Amores et al., 2022; Kulichkov et al., 2022; Kubota et al., 2022), where they were recorded by thousands of high‐resolution microbarographs (cf. Matoza et al., 2022; Villalonga et al., 2023), such as those in Mexico (Ortiz‐Huerta & Ortiz, 2022; Rmírez‐Herrera et al., 2022). In addition to the scientific interest in the air pressure waves, there has been considerable interest in the atmospheric tsunamis waves (meteotsunamis) that these waves generated in the World Ocean, including the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Mexico.…”

“…We consider an intermediate value of 314 m/s to be representative of the mean propagation speed of the recorded Lamb waves, which is in good agreement with estimates presented in previous studies for other globe regions (cf. Kulichkov et al, 2022;Matoza et al, 2022;Villalonga et al, 2023). This speed has been used to estimate the arrival times of atmospheric Lamb waves at stations that did not have atmospheric pressure sensors.…”

Sea Level Rise in Europe: Observations and projections

“…Meteotsunamis are atmospherically induced high-frequency (< 2h) oceanic waves generated by travelling atmospheric perturbations (Monserrat et al, 2006). There are different mechanisms by which an atmospheric disturbance can generate a meteotsunami wave in the open sea, such as Proudman resonance (Proudman, 1929), Greenspan resonance (Greenspan, 1956), frontline passages and even atmospheric Lamb waves (Villalonga et al, 2023). Analogously to seismic generated tsunamis, meteotsunami waves can travel long distances across the ocean, being amplified when they reach the coastline under specific bathymetric and morphological conditions.…”