Massive Tonga Volcano Plume Reached the Mesosphere – 38 Miles Into the Atmosphere

Tonga Volcano Plume Reached the Mesosphere

The plume from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai behaved like a mega-thunderstorm that rose 58 kilometers (38 miles) into the ambiance.

When an underwater volcano erupted close to the small, uninhabited island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai in January 2022, two climate satellites had been uniquely positioned to look at the peak and breadth of the plume. Collectively they captured what is probably going the best plume within the satellite tv for pc document.

Scientists at NASA’s Langley Analysis Middle analyzed knowledge from NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite tv for pc 17 (GOES-17) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Company’s (JAXA) Himawari-8, which each function in geostationary orbit and carry very related imaging devices. The workforce calculated that the plume from the January 15 volcanic eruption rose to 58 kilometers (36 miles) at its highest level. Gasoline, steam, and ash from the volcano reached the mesosphere, the third layer of the ambiance.

Previous to the Tonga eruption, the most important recognized volcanic plume within the satellite tv for pc period got here from Mount Pinatubo, which spewed ash and aerosols as much as 35 kilometers (22 miles) into the air above the Philippines in 1991. The Tonga plume was 1.5 instances the peak of the Pinatubo plume.

“The depth of this occasion far exceeds that of any storm cloud I've ever studied,” mentioned Kristopher Bedka, an atmospheric scientist at NASA Langley who makes a speciality of learning excessive storms. “We're lucky that it was considered so effectively by our newest technology of geostationary satellites and we will use this knowledge in progressive methods to doc its evolution.”

The animation above reveals a stereo view of the Tonga eruption plume because it rose, advanced, and dispersed over the course of 13 hours on January 15, 2022. The animation was constructed from infrared observations acquired each 10 minutes by GOES-17 and Himawari-8. In keeping with these observations, the preliminary blast quickly rose from the ocean floor to 58 kilometers in about half-hour. Shortly afterward, a secondary pulse rose above 50 kilometers (31 miles), then separated into three items.

Usually, atmospheric scientists calculate cloud peak through the use of infrared devices to measure a cloud’s temperature after which evaluating it with mannequin simulations of temperature and altitude. Nevertheless, this technique depends on the idea that temperatures lower at increased altitudes—which is true within the troposphere, however not essentially within the center and higher layers of the ambiance. The scientists wanted a special technique to calculate the peak: geometry.

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai is situated within the Pacific Ocean roughly halfway between Himawari-8, which is in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 140.7° East, and GOES-17, in geostationary orbit at 137.2° West. “From the 2 angles of the satellites, we had been capable of recreate a three-dimensional image of the clouds,” defined Konstantin Khlopenkov, a scientist on the NASA Langley workforce.

Tonga Volcano Plume Stereoscopic Observations Annotated

January 15, 2022

This sequence of nonetheless pictures from GOES-17 reveals the plume at varied levels on January 15. Word how the tallest components of the plume within the stratosphere and mesosphere solid shadows down on the decrease components.

Khlopenkov and Bedka used a method that they initially designed to review extreme thunderstorms that penetrate the stratosphere. Their algorithm matches simultaneous observations of the identical cloud scene from two satellites, after which makes use of stereoscopy to assemble a three-dimensional profile of elevated clouds. (That is just like the way in which the human mind perceives issues in three dimensions utilizing two pictures from our eyes.) Khlopenkov then verified the stereoscopic measurements utilizing the size of the shadows that the tallest plumes solid on the broad ash clouds beneath. Additionally they in contrast their measurements with a NASA GEOS-5 mannequin evaluation to find out the native peak of the stratosphere and troposphere that day.

The uppermost a part of the plume sublimated virtually instantly resulting from extraordinarily dry situations within the mesosphere. Nevertheless, an umbrella of ash and gasoline unfold out within the stratosphere at an altitude of about 30 kilometers (20 miles), ultimately protecting an space of 157,000 sq. kilometers (60,000 sq. miles), bigger than the state of Georgia.

“When volcanic materials goes this excessive into the stratosphere, the place the winds usually are not as sturdy, the volcanic ash, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and water vapor will be transported throughout Earth,” mentioned Khlopenkov. Inside two weeks, the principle plume of volcanic materials circled the globe, as noticed by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite tv for pc Commentary (CALIPSO) satellite tv for pc, in addition to the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite on the Suomi-NPP satellite tv for pc.

Aerosols from the plume have endured within the stratosphere for practically a month after the eruption and will keep for a yr or extra, mentioned atmospheric scientist Ghassan Taha of NASA’s Goddard House Flight Middle. Volcanic emissions can probably have an effect on native climate and world local weather. Nevertheless, Taha famous that it at present appears unlikely the Tonga plume could have important local weather results as a result of it was low in sulfur dioxide content material—the volcanic emission that causes cooling—however excessive in water vapor, which accounts for its spectacular peak.

“The mixture of volcanic warmth and the quantity of superheated moisture from the ocean made this eruption unprecedented. It was like hyper-fuel for a mega-thunderstorm,” mentioned Bedka. “The plume went 2.5 instances increased than any thunderstorm we have now ever noticed, and the eruption generated an unbelievable quantity of lightning. That's what makes this important from a meteorological perspective.”

NASA Earth Observatory pictures and video by Joshua Stevens, utilizing knowledge courtesy of Kristopher Bedka and Konstantin Khlopenkov/NASA Langley Analysis Middle, and GOES-17 imagery courtesy of NOAA and the Nationwide Environmental Satellite tv for pc, Information, and Data Service (NESDIS). Story by Sofie Bates, NASA’s Earth Science Information Crew, with Mike Carlowicz.

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