Science Alert June 22, 2023 Using a combination of satellite- and ground-based sensors a team of researchers in the US (USGS (Vancouver), industry, Los Alamos National Laboratory, NASA (Huntsville, AL), NASA, VA) investigated the rate of volcanic lightning (>2,600 flashes min−1) and what it revealed about the dynamics of the submarine eruption. In map view, lightning locations form radially expanding rings. They showed that the initial lightning ring was co-located with an internal gravity wave traveling >80 m s−1 in the stratospheric umbrella cloud. Buoyant oscillations of the plume’s overshooting top generated the gravity waves, which enhanced turbulent particle interactions […]
Category Archives: Tonga volcanic eruption
Eruption of Tonga underwater volcano found to disrupt satellite signals halfway around the world
Phys.org May 22, 2023 Equatorial plasma bubbles which impact satellite-based communications was observed in the Asia-Pacific region after the eruption of the Tonga volcano on January 15, 2022. Researchers in Japan used satellite and ground-based ionospheric observations to demonstrate that an air pressure wave triggered by the Tonga volcanic eruption could cause the emergence of an equatorial plasma bubble. The most prominent observation result showed a sudden increase of electron density and height of the ionosphere several ten minutes to hours before the initial arrival of the air pressure wave in the lower atmosphere. They also found that the propagation […]