The January 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano reached the mesosphere

Abstract

Explosive volcanic eruptions can loft ash, gases and water into the stratosphere, which affects both human activities and the climate. Using geostationary satellite images of the January 2022 Hunga-Tonga volcano eruption we find that the volcanic cloud produced by this volcano reached an altitude of 57km at its highest extent. This places the cloud in the lower mesosphere and provides observational evidence of a volcanic eruption injecting material through the stratosphere and directly into the mesosphere. We then discuss potential implications of this injection and suggest that the altitude reached by plumes from previous eruptions, such as Pinatubo in 1991, are very likely to be underestimated.

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Hydration of the Stratosphere

“…Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HT-HH), a submarine volcano in the South Pacific (20.54°S, 175.38°W), reached its climactic eruption phase on 15 January 2022. The blast sent a volcanic plume into the mesosphere to altitudes of up to 57 km-a record in the satellite era (Carr et al, 2022;Proud et al, 2022). It also triggered tsunami alerts across the world (Carvajal et al, 2022;Ramirez-Herrera et al, 2022), waves that propagated globally (Wright et al, 2022), and ionospheric disturbances (Themens et al, 2022).…”

Stratospheric Balloon Observations of Infrasound Waves From the 15 January 2022 Hunga Eruption, Tonga

“…Started in mid‐December 2021, the 2021–2022 eruption of Hunga volcano (Tonga) culminated on 15 January 2022 with an intense explosion around 04:16 UTC (Poli & Shapiro, 2022). Over the next hour, the volcanic plume penetrated deep into the atmosphere, reaching the stratopause and beyond (up to 58 km), whereas the umbrella cloud spread at approximately 35 km to form a 600 km diameter disk (Carr et al., 2022; Proud et al., 2022). The altitude of volcanic overshoots, the height and extent of the umbrella cloud set a new record for volcanic eruptions over the satellite era, overtaking Mount Pinatubo and its maximum reported plume height of 40 km (Holasek et al., 1996).…”

The Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai Hydration of the Stratosphere

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Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HT-HH), a submarine volcano in the South Pacific (20.54°S, 175.38°W), reached its climactic eruption phase on 15 January 2022. The blast sent a volcanic plume into the mesosphere to altitudes of up to 57 km-a record in the satellite era (Carr et al, 2022;Proud et al, 2022). It also triggered tsunami alerts across the world (Carvajal et al, 2022;Ramirez-Herrera et al, 2022), waves that propagated globally (Wright et al, 2022), and ionospheric disturbances (Themens et al, 2022).

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