Tongan Volcanic Eruption Induced Global‐Scale Thermospheric Changes Observed by the GOLD Mission

Abstract

AbstractThe 2022 Tongan volcanic eruption released significant energy into the atmosphere. Tropospheric satellite images show that the eruption generated pressure waves that traveled globally. The Global Observation of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission observed significant wave‐like thermospheric temperature perturbations (>100 K) from 12 to 16 UT. These temperature perturbations' spatial curvatures and arrival times are initially similar to the tropospheric wave‐fronts but differ significantly with eastward propagation. The perturbations had a phase speed of ∼300–400 m/s and wavelengths greater than 2,400 km. Near‐concurrent Ionospheric Connection Explorer neutral wind measurements suggest that the eruption's effects reversed the direction of the prevailing thermospheric zonal winds around the perturbed regions. The eruption's global and whole atmospheric effects provide a unique opportunity to study how different atmospheric layers exchange energy and momentum during explosive events. GOLD's synoptic observations are uniquely positioned to study these effects in the middle thermosphere.