The GOES-17 satellite captured images of an umbrella cloud generated by the underwater eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on January 15, 2022. Crescent-shaped shock waves and multiple light strokes can also be seen. Credit: Image of NASA’s Earth Observatory by Joshua Stevens, using GOES images courtesy of NOAA and NESDIS
When the Tonga-Hongga volcano erupted on January 15, 2022, it sent atmospheric shock waves, sound booms and tsunamis around the world. Scientists are now discovering that the effects of the volcano have reached space.
Analyzing data from NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer or ICON mission and the ESA (European Space Agency) Swarm satellites, scientists found that in the hours after the eruption, hurricane-force winds and unusual electric currents formed in the ionosphere – the electrified upper layers of the Earth. layer on the edge of space.
“The volcano has created one of the biggest space disturbances we’ve seen in the modern era,” said Brian Harding, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley and lead author of a new paper discussing the findings. “This allows us to test the misunderstood connection between the lower atmosphere and space.
The eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai on January 15, 2022 caused many effects, some of which are illustrated here, which were felt around the world and even in space. Some of these effects, such as extreme winds and unusual electric currents, were captured by NASA’s ICON mission and the ESA (European Space Agency) swarm. Do not scale the image. Credit: NASA’s / God Pat Hribick-Keith Center for Space Flight
ICON launched in 2019 to identify how Earth time interacts with space time – a relatively new idea that displaces previous assumptions that only forces from the Sun and space can create time on the edge of the ionosphere. In January 2022, as the spacecraft flew over South America, it observed such an earth disturbance in the ionosphere caused by a volcano in the South Pacific.
“These results are an exciting look at how events on Earth can affect space time, in addition to space time affecting Earth,” said Jim Span, head of space time at NASA’s Heliophysics Division at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, DC. “Understanding cosmic time holistically will ultimately help us mitigate its impact on society.”
When the volcano erupted, it pushed a huge stream of gases, water vapor and dust into the sky. The explosion also created major disturbances in atmospheric pressure, which led to strong winds. As winds expand upward into thinner atmospheric layers, they begin to move faster. Upon reaching the ionosphere and the edge of space, ICON fixes wind speeds of up to 450 miles per hour, making them the strongest winds below 120 miles altitude, measured by the mission since its launch.
Illustration of the ICON spacecraft. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Mary Pat Hribick-Keith
In the ionosphere, extreme winds also affected electric currents. Particles in the ionosphere regularly generate an electric current from the east – called the equatorial electrode – driven by winds in the lower atmosphere. After the eruption, the equatorial electrojet rose to five times its normal power and dramatically reversed direction, flowing westward for a short period of time.
“It’s very surprising to see that the electric jet is heavily inverted by something that happened on the Earth’s surface,” said Joan Wu, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley and co-author of the new study. “This is something we’ve only seen before with strong geomagnetic storms, which are a form of time in space caused by particles and radiation from the sun.”
The ESA constellation of three Swarm satellites is designed to identify and measure accurately different magnetic signals. This will lead to a new look at many natural processes, from those that take place deep in the planet, to time in space caused by solar activity. Credit: ESA / ATG Medialab
The new study, published today (May 10, 2022) in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, complements scientists’ understanding of how the ionosphere is affected by events on Earth as well as space. The strong equatorial electrojet is associated with redistribution of material in the ionosphere, which can disrupt GPS and radio signals transmitted through the region.
Understanding how this complex area of our atmosphere reacts against strong forces from below and above is a key part of NASA’s research. NASA’s upcoming mission, the Geospace Dynamics Constellation, or GDC, will use a fleet of small satellites, similar to ground-based weather sensors, to track currents and winds passing through the area. By better understanding what affects the ionospheric currents, scientists may be better prepared to predict serious problems caused by such disturbances.
Reference: “Impact of Tonga’s volcanic eruption of January 2022 on the ionospheric dynamo: ICON-MIGHTI and observations of swarms of extreme neutral winds and currents” by Brian J. Harding, Yen-Jung Joan Wu, Patrick Alken, Yosuke Colin Yamazaki Triplett, Thomas J. Immel, L. Claire Gasque, Stephen B. Mende and Chao Xiong, May 10, 2022, Geophysical Research Letters.DOI: 10.1029 / 2022GL098577
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