Rapid characterization of large volcanic eruptions: measuring the impulse of the Hunga Tonga explosion from teleseismic waves

Abstract

Most of the largest volcanic activity in the world occurs in remote places as deep oceans or poorly monitored oceanic islands. Thus, our capacity of monitoring volcanoes is limited to remote sensing and global geophysical observations. However, the rapid estimation of volcanic eruption parameters is needed for scientific understanding of the eruptive process and rapid hazard estimation. We present a method to rapidly identify large volcanic explosions, based on analysis of seismic data. With this methodology, we promptly detect the January 15, 2022 Hunga Tonga eruption. We then analyze the seismic waves generate by the volcanic explosion and estimate important first-order parameters of the eruption. We further relate the parameters with the volcanic explosivity index (VEI). Our estimate of VEI˜6, indicate how the Hunga Tonga eruption is among the largest volcanic activity ever recorded with modern geophysical instrumentation, and can provide new insights about the physics of large volcanoes.

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

“…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 .…”

Observed Atmospheric Features for the 2022 Hunga Tonga Volcanic Eruption from Joint Polar Satellite System Science Data Products

“…The volcano is located at [20.55 S, 175.38 W, https://volcano.si.edu/] (accessed on 23 January 2023). A series of important studies were conducted to understand the occurrence, characterization, evolution, and impact of the volcano event (e.g., [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]). It is important to investigate the climate impact of the gasses and the ash particles injected into the atmosphere during the volcanic eruption because most of the ash particles can cool the planet by shading incoming solar radiation.…”

Oscillations of the Ionosphere Caused by the 2022 Tonga Volcanic Eruption Observed with SuperDARN Radars

“…Immense ripples on the sea surface and in the atmosphere rapidly spread outward. The volcanic explosivity index (VEI) was estimated to be 6, indicating that this eruption was one of the largest volcanic eruptions recorded in the modern era (Poli & Shapiro, 2022). The volcanic eruption released a large amount of material and energy into the atmosphere, with the highest overshooting tops of the volcanic plume reaching the lower mesosphere at an altitude of ∼ 55 km according to satellite imagery .…”

“…Poli, P., & Shapiro, N. M. (2022). Rapid characterization of large volcanic eruptions:Measuring the impulse of the hunga tonga haapai explosion from teleseismic waves [Journal Article].…”