The eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Haapai volcano triggered measurable changes in the ionosphere that extended well beyond the eruption site, affecting regions thousands of kilometers away. This phenomenon was reported by the press service of FIAN and becomes part of a growing body of observations linking powerful volcanic events to upper atmospheric dynamics.
On January 15, 2022, the volcanic blast from Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Haapai in Tonga (Polynesia) marked one of the most vigorous eruptions of the modern era. The volcanic plume surged into the stratosphere to an altitude of around 58 kilometers, ejecting approximately 146 teragrams of water vapor into the upper atmosphere. The explosion generated atmospheric fluctuations that propagated around the globe, with measures indicating disturbances that touched Moscow and circled the Earth multiple times. These atmospheric signatures emphasized the global reach of extreme volcanic activity and its potential to influence climate-related processes on a planetary scale.
Researchers from Russia have now identified a clear link between these atmospheric waves and changes in the ionosphere, a region beginning roughly 60 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. The team utilized data from spaceborne satellites and ground-based observatories, including the Tien Shan high mountain station of the Lebedev Institute of Physics and the Orbita radio range of the Kazakh Ionosphere Institute in Almaty, to corroborate their findings. The study demonstrates that intense air waves produced by a volcanic eruption can transfer energy upward, perturbing the ionized layer high above the surface.
As explained by Nazyf Salikhov, the researchers observed that the perturbations originate at the moment of the eruption and travel through the atmosphere. At ground level and up to a few kilometers above, these disturbances manifest as brief elevations in atmospheric pressure, detectable with routine instruments such as digital barographs. At ionospheric altitudes between 70 and 100 kilometers, the energy carried by the atmospheric wave is transferred to the ionized air, altering the distribution of electric charges in that region. This chain of events highlights the interconnectedness of lower atmospheric dynamics and ionospheric structure, revealing a direct mechanism by which surface explosions can influence space weather conditions.
The energy transfer to the ionosphere is thought to occur through resonance between acoustic and gravity waves propagating through the atmosphere. Scientists recorded the ionospheric disturbances associated with the Hunga Tonga eruption using the widely deployed Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) network, which measures total electron content in the ionosphere. Additional observations came from the ICE and GOLD mission satellites, operating in low Earth orbit and geostationary orbit, respectively. The GNSS data showed two distinct traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) emanating from the eruption epicenter: two large-scale disturbances and several medium-scale ones. The most pronounced medium-scale TID traveled at roughly 200 to 400 meters per second and aligned with the surface atmospheric pressure disturbance. These results reinforce the view that the ionosphere serves as a sensitive detector for atmospheric waves and other geophysical perturbations, providing valuable insights into how the atmosphere and space environment interact during extreme events.
Beyond the upper atmosphere, these ionospheric changes can have practical terrestrial implications. The interactions can induce telluric currents in soil and rock, which may influence electrical grounding and underground electrical signals. In the study, two such disturbances were recorded by the Tien Shan station at the moments when the Lamb wave and the acoustic-gravity wave arrived at the monitoring point, underscoring the broad cascade of effects set in motion by the eruption. This line of evidence strengthens the case that surface phenomena can produce measurable consequences across multiple layers of the Earth system, from the crust to the ionosphere.
Looking ahead, the authors anticipate that continued analysis of such coupling processes will improve the ability to forecast the climate and atmospheric consequences of explosive volcanism and large earthquakes. A deeper understanding of how energy transfers from intense surface events to atmospheric and ionospheric layers could enhance predictive models for weather, climate anomalies, and space weather impacts. This research contributes to a growing field that treats the ionosphere as a dynamic archive of geophysical disturbances, offering a more integrated view of how Earth’s systems respond to extreme events. For readers seeking more details on the Tonga eruption and its atmospheric implications, see the material published by Moscow socialbites.ca [citation].