The eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Haapai volcano caused changes in the ionosphere at a distance of more than tens of thousands of kilometers. This was reported by the press service of FIAN. lebedev.
On January 15, 2022, the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Haapai volcano in the country of Tonga (Polynesia) erupted. This eruption was the most powerful in the 21st century, with a column of ash reaching the stratosphere rising to a height of 58 kilometers, while also throwing 146 teragrams (trillion grams) of water into the stratosphere. Atmospheric fluctuations caused by the explosion reached Moscow and circled the Earth several times.
Now Russian physicists have discovered that atmospheric waves also affect the ionosphere, the lower limit of which lies at an altitude of 60 km. This was found with the help of a number of space satellites, as well as the Tien Shan high mountain station of the Lebedev Institute of Physics and the Orbita radio range of the Kazakh Ionosphere Institute (Almaty).
“We observed the effects of the perturbations caused by an intense air wave that formed at the time of the eruption of the volcano and spread in the earth’s atmosphere. At ground level and up to several kilometers high, this disturbance was perceived as a short-term jump in atmospheric pressure that could be measured by conventional methods such as a digital barograph. At an ionospheric altitude of 70-100 km from the surface, the energy of the air wave propagating in the atmosphere was transferred to the layers of ionized air, which led to changes in the electric charge distribution density at this altitude,” explained Nazyf Salikhov. from the authors of the study.
The energy of the explosion can be transferred to the ionosphere through the resonance of acoustic-gravity oscillations in the atmosphere. Ionospheric disturbances caused by the explosive eruption of Hunga Tonga volcano were recorded by scientists using the widely used Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) network of receivers to measure the total electron concentration in the ionosphere. Notable ionospheric effects have also been observed by the ICE and GOLD mission satellites in low Earth and geostationary orbits. GNSS receivers detected two types of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) emanating from the epicenter of the explosion: two large-scale and several medium-scale TIDs. The most dominant medium-sized TID moved at about 200-400 m/s and coincided with a surface atmospheric pressure disturbance. Thus, scientists became convinced that the ionosphere is a sensitive detector of atmospheric waves and geophysical disturbances.
Confusions in the ionosphere can also affect the earth’s surface – for example, telluric currents can occur in the soil. Two such disturbances were found in the recordings of the telluric current at the moments when the lamb wave and the acoustic gravitational wave arrived at the current recording point at the Tien Shan high mountain station.
The authors hope that studying such processes will make it possible to predict the consequences of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes for the climate.
Details about which waves closed Due to the eruption of the Tonga volcano can be read in the material of Moscow socialbites.ca.
Source: Gazeta
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