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Abstract This study reports different properties of ionospheric perturbations detected to the west and south of the Korean Peninsula after the Hunga‐Tonga volcanic eruption on 15 January 2022. Transient wave‐like total electron content (TEC) modulations and intense irregular TEC perturbations are detected in the west and south of the Korean Peninsula, respectively, about 8 hr after the eruption. The TEC modulations in the west propagate away from the epicenter with a speed of 302 m/s. Their occurrence time, propagation direction and velocity, and alignment with the surface air pressure perturbations indicate the generation of the TEC modulations by Lamb waves generated by the eruption. The strong TEC perturbations and L band scintillations in the south are interpreted in terms of the poleward extension of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs). We demonstrate the association of the EPBs with the volcanic eruption using the EPB occurrence climatology derived from Swarm satellite data.
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Secondary Gravity Waves From the Tonga Volcano Eruption: Observation and Modeling Over New Zealand and Australia
Abstract The biggest volcanic eruption since 1991 happened on 15 January 2022 on the island of Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Haʻapai (20.6°S; 175.4°W) in the South Pacific between 4:00 and 4:16 UT. The updrafts from the eruption reached 58 km height. In order to observe its ionospheric effects, approximately 750 GNSS receivers in New Zealand and Australia were used to calculate the detrended total electron content (dTEC). Traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) were observed over New Zealand 1.0–1.5 hr after the volcano eruption, with a horizontal wavelength () of 1,525 km, horizontal phase velocity () of 635 m/s, period (τ) of 40 min, and azimuth (α) of 214°. On the other hand, TIDs were observed 2–3 hr after the eruption in Australia with , ,τ, andαof 922 km, 375 m/s, 41 min, and 266°, respectively. Using reverse ray tracing, we found that these GWs originated atz > 100 km at a location ∼500 km south of Tonga, in agreement with model results for the location of a large amplitude body force created from the breaking of primary GWs from the eruption. Thus, we found that these fast GWs were secondary, not primary GWs from the Tonga eruption.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1832988
- PAR ID:
- 10470382
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
- Volume:
- 128
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 2169-9380
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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