Atmospheric waves and global seismoacoustic observations of the January 2022 Hunga eruption, Tonga.
Robin S MatozaDavid FeeJelle D AssinkAlexandra M IezziDavid N GreenKeehoon KimLiam ToneyThomas LecocqSiddharth KrishnamoorthyJean-Marie LalandeKiwamu NishidaKent L GeeMatthew M HaneyHugo D OrtizQuentin BrissaudLéo MartireLucie RollandPanagiotis VergadosAlexandra NippressJunghyun ParkShahar Shani-KadmielAlex WitsilStephen ArrowsmithCorentin CaudronShingo WatadaAnna B PerttuBenoit TaisnePierrick MialleAlexis Le PichonJulien VergozPatrick HupePhilip S BlomRoger WaxlerSilvio De AngelisJonathan B SnivelyAdam T RinglerRobert E AnthonyArthur D JollyGeoff KilgourGil AverbuchMaurizio RipepeMie IchiharaAlejandra Arciniega-CeballosElvira AstafyevaLars CerannaSandrine CevuardIl-Young CheRodrigo De NegriCarl W EbelingLäslo G EversLuis E Franco-MarinThomas B GabrielsonKatrin HafnerR Giles HarrisonAttila KomjathyGiorgio LacannaJohn LyonsKenneth A MacphersonEmanuele MarchettiKathleen F McKeeRobert J MellorsGerardo Mendo-PérezT Dylan MikesellEdhah MunaibariMayra Oyola-MercedIseul ParkChristoph PilgerCristina RamosMario C RuizRoberto SabatiniHans F SchwaigerDorianne TailpiedCarrick TalmadgeJérôme VidotJeremy WebsterDavid C WilsonPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2022)
The 15 January 2022 climactic eruption of Hunga volcano, Tonga, produced an explosion in the atmosphere of a size that has not been documented in the modern geophysical record. The event generated a broad range of atmospheric waves observed globally by various ground-based and spaceborne instrumentation networks. Most prominent was the surface-guided Lamb wave (≲0.01 hertz), which we observed propagating for four (plus three antipodal) passages around Earth over 6 days. As measured by the Lamb wave amplitudes, the climactic Hunga explosion was comparable in size to that of the 1883 Krakatau eruption. The Hunga eruption produced remarkable globally detected infrasound (0.01 to 20 hertz), long-range (~10,000 kilometers) audible sound, and ionospheric perturbations. Seismometers worldwide recorded pure seismic and air-to-ground coupled waves. Air-to-sea coupling likely contributed to fast-arriving tsunamis. Here, we highlight exceptional observations of the atmospheric waves.