Extreme Heights of 15 January 2022 Tonga Volcanic Plume and Its Initial Evolution Inferred from COSMIC-2 RO Measurements

The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano (20.57° S, 175.38° W) violently erupted on 15 January 2022. The volcanic cloud’s top height and initial evolution are delineated by using the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC)-2 radio occultation (RO) mea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmosphere 2023-01, Vol.14 (1), p.121
Main Authors: Ravindra Babu, Saginela, Lin, Neng-Huei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
21st century
Aerosols
Altitude
Cloud dynamics
Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate
Constellations
COSMIC-2 RO
Deformation
Eruptions
Evolution
Height
Ionosphere
Meteorology
Perturbation
Plume models
Radio occultation
Satellites
Stratosphere
stratospheric water vapor
thermal structure
Tonga volcano
Volcanic activity
Volcanic plumes
Volcanoes
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Summary:The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano (20.57° S, 175.38° W) violently erupted on 15 January 2022. The volcanic cloud’s top height and initial evolution are delineated by using the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC)-2 radio occultation (RO) measurements. The bending angle (BA) anomaly over the Tonga volcanic plume (within 200 km of the eruption center) at 5:17 UTC on 15 January showed a prominent peak at higher stratospheric heights. The top of the BA anomaly revealed that negative to positive change occurred at ~38 km, indicating the first height where the RO line-of-sight encountered the volcanic plume. The BA anomaly further revealed an increase of ~50% at ~36.1 km, and confirmed that the volcanic plume reached above ~36 km. Furthermore, the evolution of BA perturbations within 24 h after the initial explosion is also discussed herein. From collocated RO profiles with the volcanic plume, we can find a clear descent of the peak altitude of the BA perturbation from ~36.1 km to ~29 km within 24 h after the initial eruption. The results from this study will provide some insights into advancing our understanding of volcanic cloud dynamics and their implementation in volcanic plume modeling.
ISSN:2073-4433
2073-4433
DOI:10.3390/atmos14010121