Tonga eruption’s towering plume reached the 3rd layer of Earth’s atmosphere

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When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted underwater in January, it created a plume of ash and water that broke via the third layer of Earth’s atmosphere.

It was the highest-recorded volcanic plume and reached the mesosphere, the place meteors and meteorites normally break aside and deplete in our atmosphere.

The mesosphere, about 31 to 50 miles (50 to 80 kilometers) above Earth’s floor, is above the troposphere and stratosphere and beneath two different layers. (The stratosphere and mesosphere are dry atmospheric layers.)

The volcanic plume reached an altitude of 35.4 miles (57 kilometers) at its highest. It exceeded earlier document holders similar to the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines at 24.8 miles (40 kilometers) and the 1982 El Chichón eruption in Mexico, which reached 19.2 miles (31 kilometers).

Researchers used pictures captured by satellites passing over the eruption website to verify the plume’s height. The eruption occurred January 15 in the southern Pacific Ocean off the Tongan archipelago, an space lined by three geostationary climate satellites.

A examine detailing the findings revealed Thursday in the journal Science.

The towering plume despatched into the higher layers of the atmosphere contained enough water to fill 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools, in keeping with earlier detections from a NASA satellite tv for pc.

Understanding the height of the plume can assist researchers examine the influence the eruption might need on the international local weather.

Determining the plume’s height posed a problem to researchers. Typically, scientists can measure the altitude of a plume by learning its temperature — the colder a plume, the increased it’s, mentioned lead examine coauthor Dr. Simon Proud of RAL Space and a analysis fellow at the National Centre for Earth Observation and the University of Oxford.

But this methodology couldn’t be utilized to the Tonga occasion attributable to the violent nature of its eruption.

“The eruption pushed through the layer of atmosphere we live in, the troposphere, into the upper layers where the atmosphere warms up again as you get higher,” mentioned Proud by way of e mail.

“We had to come up with another approach, using the different views given by weather satellites located on opposite sides of the Pacific and some pattern matching techniques to work out the altitude. This has only become possible in recent years, as even ten years ago we didn’t have the satellite technology in space to do this.”

The analysis staff relied on “the parallax effect” to find out the plume’s height, evaluating the distinction in look of the plume from a number of angles as captured by the climate satellites. The satellites took pictures each 10 minutes, documenting the dramatic modifications in the plume because it rose out of the ocean. The pictures mirrored variations in the plume’s place from various traces of sight.

The eruption “went from nothing to a 57 kilometer-high tower of ash and cloud in 30 minutes,” Proud mentioned. Members of the staff additionally seen speedy modifications in the prime of the eruptive plume that shocked them.

“After the initial big burst to 57 kilometers, the central dome of the plume collapsed inward, before another plume appeared shortly after,” Proud mentioned. “I hadn’t expected something like that to occur.”

The quantity of water the volcano launched into the atmosphere is anticipated to heat the planet quickly.

“This technique not only allows us to determine the maximum height of the plume but also the various levels in the atmosphere where volcanic material was released,” mentioned examine coauthor Dr. Andrew Prata, a postdoctoral analysis assistant in the Clarendon Laboratory’s sub-department of atmospheric, oceanic and planetary physics at the University of Oxford, by way of e mail.

Knowing the composition and height of the plume can reveal how a lot ice was despatched into the stratosphere and the place ash particles have been launched.

The height can also be essential for aviation security as a result of volcanic ash could cause jet engine failure, so avoiding ash plumes is essential.

The plume height is one more rising element of what has grow to be often called one of the strongest volcanic eruptions recorded. When the undersea volcano erupted 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Tonga’s capital, it triggered a tsunami in addition to shock waves that rippled round the world.

Research is ongoing to unlock why the eruption was so highly effective, however it is likely to be as a result of it occurred underwater.

The warmth of the eruption vaporized the water and “created a steam explosion much more powerful than a volcanic eruption would normally be,” Proud mentioned.

“Examples like the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption demonstrate that magma-seawater interactions play a significant role in producing highly explosive eruptions that can inject volcanic material to extreme altitudes,” Prata added.

Next, the researchers wish to perceive why the plume was so high in addition to its composition and ongoing influence on the international local weather.

“Often when people think of volcanic plumes they think of volcanic ash,” Prata mentioned. “However, preliminary work on this case is revealing that there was a significant proportion of ice in the plume. We also know that there was a fairly modest amount of sulfur dioxide and sulfate aerosols formed rapidly after the eruption took place.”

Proud desires to make use of the multi-satellite altitude approach on this examine to create computerized warnings for extreme storms and volcanic eruptions.