2022 Tonga volcanic eruption's effects also reached space, says NASA


Devdiscourse News Desk | California | Updated: 10-05-2022 21:29 IST | Created: 10-05-2022 21:29 IST
2022 Tonga volcanic eruption's effects also reached space, says NASA
Representative image Image Credit: Flickr

Scientists have found that the effects of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai volcano which erupted on January 15, 2022 also reached space. NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission and the European Space Agency's Swarm picked some of those effects such as extreme winds and unusual electric currents.

Analysing data from the missions, the scientists found that in the hours after the eruption, hurricane-speed winds and unusual electric currents formed in the ionosphere.

"The volcano created one of the largest disturbances in space we've seen in the modern era. It is allowing us to test the poorly understood connection between the lower atmosphere and space," said Brian Harding, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, and the lead author of a new paper discussing the findings.

According to NASA, in January 2022, when ICON passed over South America, the spacecraft observed one earthly disturbance in the ionosphere triggered by the South Pacific volcano. The explosion created large pressure disturbances in the atmosphere, leading to strong winds. Upon reaching the ionosphere and the edge of space, ICON clocked the windspeeds at up to 450mph.

Following the eruption, the equatorial electrojet - an east-flowing electric current formed by particles in the ionosphere - surged to five times its normal peak power and dramatically flipped direction, flowing westward for a short period.

"This is something we've only previously seen with strong geomagnetic storms, which are a form of weather in space caused by particles and radiation from the Sun, Joanne Wu, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-author on the new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The research adds to the scientific community's understanding of how the ionosphere is affected by events on the ground as well as from space.

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