Investigations on the Global Spread of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Volcanic Eruption Using Space-Based Observations and Lagrangian Transport Simulations

Abstract

On 15 January 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) (175.38° W, 20.54° S) volcano erupted explosively. It is considered the most explosive volcanic eruption during the past 140 years. The HTHH volcanic eruption caused intense ripples, Lamb waves, and gravity waves in the atmosphere which encircled the globe several times, as reported by different studies. In this study, using OMI, SAGE-III/ISS, and CALIPSO satellite observations, we investigated the spread of the volcanic SO2 cloud due to the HTHH eruption and subsequent formation of sulfuric acid clouds in the stratosphere. It took about 19–21 days for the stratospheric SO2 injections of the HTHH to encircle the globe longitudinally due to a dominant westward jet with wind speeds of ~2500 km/day, and it slowly dispersed over the whole globe within several months due to poleward spread. The formation of sulfuric acid clouds intensified after about a month, causing the more frequent occurrence of high aerosol optical depth elevated layers in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 20–26 km. This study deals with the dynamics of volcanic plume spread in the stratosphere, knowledge of which is essential in estimating the accurate radiative effects caused by perturbations in the earth–atmosphere system due to a volcanic eruption. In addition, this knowledge provides important input for studies related to the geo-engineering of the earth’s atmosphere by injecting particulates and gases into the stratosphere.