The atmospheric pressure wave generated by the eruption that took place in the Pacific in January 2022 also affected the southern Mediterranean area and was recorded by the INGV monitoring networks
The violent eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano which occurred on January 15, 2022 in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, between New Zealand and the Fiji Islands, generated global-scale atmospheric disturbances also observed in the Mediterranean atmosphere thanks to the barometric and infrasonic stations of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) installed on active Italian volcanoes.
This is what emerges from the study created by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from INGV, the University of Catania and the Sicilian Agrometeorological Information Service (SIAS), recently published in the international journal 'Atmosphere' of MDPI.
"The eruption Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai cataclysm of 2022 has triggered a huge increase in total electrons in the ionosphere e a wave of atmospheric pressure that has traveled thousands of miles in the troposphere, causing ground vibrations and secondary perturbations”, explains Alessandro Bonforte, researcher at INGV and co-author of the study. "By analyzing the barometric data collected on the ground, we have highlighted how these pressure 'waves' have been reflected and diffracted by the earth's surface, creating a complex space-time dynamic between the atmospheric perturbations that traveled over Sicily, driven by the interference between the different wave fronts”.
The data which allowed us to study the atmospheric disturbances generated by the eruption are collected by numerous INGV instruments: barometric and infrasonic stations on active volcanoes in Italy, from Catania to Campi Flegrei in Campania; the networks , the ionoprobes installed in Gibilmanna (PA) for the analysis of perturbations in the ionosphere; the net dedicated to the continuous monitoring of ground deformations through the GNSS system; the network for monitoring the flow of carbon dioxide (CO2) on the island of Vulcano. In addition, survey data was also acquired for the study from the network of the Sicilian Region dedicated to the study of the interaction between orography and pressure waves.
L'Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai is a historically known volcano for having produced, about 900 years ago, a series of large eruptions followed by numerous less energetic events, the penultimate of which had formed a new island between 2014 and 2015. The most recent eruption, that of 2022, was the most violent in the last 138 years, comparable to those of Krakatau (1883) and Pinatubo (1991).
“Recent studies had already highlighted how extreme natural phenomena such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions can trigger acoustic and gravitational waves that propagate upwards in the atmosphere and in the ionosphere: the measurements collected with our work have confirmed the passage in southern Mediterranean area of the atmospheric perturbation generated by the eruption (propagated at a speed of about 310 m/s), identifying the effects produced by the land topography on the pressure wave and the relationship between the acoustic wave in the troposphere and the perturbation induced on the ionospheric plasma”he concludes Paolo Madonia, researcher at INGV and co-author of the study.
The two passages of the shock wave over the Mediterranean were recorded by a network of multi-parameter sensors probing the atmosphere at different heights. The acquired data can be interpreted as a shock test capable of providing information on the atmospheric response, on a terrestrial scale, to pressure effects of short duration such as those triggered by volcanic explosions. These events are typical of turbulent atmospheric conditions, increasingly frequent due to the acceleration of meteorological phenomena caused by climate change.
Therefore, having acquisition networks operating at high frequencies and at different altitudes, such as those developed for the surveillance of active volcanoes, capable of detecting short-term phenomena (such as volcanic explosions), has made it possible to acquire highly reliable data. On the other hand, this is the opposite of normal meteorological networks, made up of stations tens of kilometers away from each other and which acquire low-frequency data, making them inadequate for detecting signals such as those generated by the explosion of the Hunga volcano.
Study citation: Madonia, P.; Bonaccorso, A.; Bonforte, A.; Buonocunto, C.; Cannata, A.; Carleo, L.; Cesaroni, C.; Currenti, G.; De Gregorio, S.; Di Lieto, B.; War, M.; Orazi, M.; Pasotti, L.; Peluso, R.; Pezzopane, M.; Restivo, V.; Roman, P.; Sciotto, M.; Spogli, L. Propagation of Perturbations in the Lower and Upper Atmosphere over the Central Mediterranean, Driven by the 15 January 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Volcano Explosion. A 2023, 14, 65.
Useful links:
INGV TROPOMAG project
INGV RING network
Sicilian Agrometeorological Information Service (SIAS)
University of Catania
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HUNGA TONGA-HUNGA HA'APAI | The effects of the great eruption of 2022 observed over the Mediterranean
The atmospheric pressure wave generated by the eruption that took place in the Pacific Ocean in January 2022 also affected the southern Mediterranean area and it was recorded
by the INGV monitoring networks
The violent eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, which occurred on 15 January 2022 in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, between New Zealand and the Fiji Islands, generated atmospheric disturbances on a global scale, which were also observed over the Mediterranean, thanks to the barometric and infrasonic sensors of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) installed on Italian active volcanoes.
This is what emerges from the study , carried out by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from INGV, the University of Catania and the Sicilian Agrometeorological Information Service (SIAS), recently published in the international journal “Atmosphere” from MDPI.
"The 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai's cataclysmic eruption triggered a massive increase in total electrons in the ionosphere, and an atmospheric pressure wave that traveled thousands of kilometres in the troposphere, causing ground vibrations and secondary perturbations”, explains Alessandro Bonforte, INGV researcher and co-author of the study. “By analyzing the barometric data collected on the ground, we have highlighted how these pressure waves have been reflected and diffracted by the Earth's surface, creating an interference between the different wave fronts, and generating a complex baric perturbation that traveled over Sicily.”.
the date that made it possible to study the atmospheric disturbances generated by the eruption were collected by several INGV instruments: the barometric and infrasonic stations on active volcanoes in Italy, from Catania to Campi Flegrei in Campania; the networks, the ionosonde installed in Gibilmanna (PA) for the analysis of perturbations in the ionosphere; the network dedicated to the continuous monitoring of ground deformations through the GNSS system; the network for monitoring the flow of carbon dioxide (CO2) on the island of Vulcano. Furthermore, data collected by the network of the Sicilian Region dedicated to the study of the interaction between orography and pressure waves were also acquired for the study.
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai is a volcano historically known to have produced, about 900 years ago, a series of large eruptions followed by numerous less energetic events, the penultimate of which had formed a new island between 2014 and 2015. The most recent eruption, that of 2022, has established itself as the most violent in the last 138 years, comparable to those of Krakatau (1883) and Pinatubo (1991).
“Recent studies had already highlighted how extreme natural phenomena, such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions can trigger acoustic and gravitational waves that propagate in the atmosphere up to the ionosphere: the measurements collected with our work have confirmed the passage, in the southern Mediterranean area, of the atmospheric perturbation generated by the eruption (propagating at a speed of about 310 m/s), identifying the effects produced by the land topography on the pressure wave and the relationship between the acoustic wave in the troposphere and the perturbation induced on the ionospheric plasma”, he concludes Paolo Madonia, INGV researcher and co-author of the study.
The two passages of the shock wave over the Mediterranean were recorded by a network of multi-parameter sensors probing the atmosphere at different heights. The acquired data can be interpreted as a shock test capable of providing information on the atmospheric response, at the Earth scale, to short-term pressure effects such as those triggered by volcanic explosions. These events are typical of turbulent atmospheric conditions, increasingly frequent due to the acceleration of meteorological phenomena caused by climate change.
Therefore, acquisition networks operating at high frequencies and at different altitudes, such as those developed for the surveillance of active volcanoes, capable of detecting short-term phenomena (such as volcanic explosions), has made it possible to acquire highly reliable data. On the other hand, this is the opposite of normal meteorological networks, made up of stations tens of kilometers away from each other and which acquire low-frequency data, making them inadequate for detecting signals such as those generated by the explosion of the Hunga volcano .
Study citation: Madonia, P.; Bonaccorso, A.; Bonforte, A.; Buonocunto, C.; Cannata, A.; Carleo, L.; Cesaroni, C.; Currenti, G.; De Gregorio, S.; Di Lieto, B.; War, M.; Orazi, M.; Pasotti, L.; Peluso, R.; Pezzopane, M.; Restivo, V.; Roman, P.; Sciotto, M.; Spogli, L. Propagation of Perturbations in the Lower and Upper Atmosphere over the Central Mediterranean, Driven by the 15 January 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Volcano Explosion. A 2023, 14, 65.
link:
Project INGV TROPOMAG
INGV RING network
Sicilian Agrometeorological Information Service (SIAS)
University of Catania
Picture 1 - Ionospheric Pierce Point (IPP) traces from the different RING stations, where the colors represent the time of day. The dashed black curves represent points with the same distance from the Hunga volcano.
The black and blue dots represent the positions of the GNSS receivers and barometers, respectively.
Tracks Ionospheric Pierce Point (IPP) from the different RING stations: the colors represent the time of day. The dashed black curves represent points with the same distance from the Hunga volcano.
Black and blue dots represent the positions of the GNSS receivers and barometers, respectively.
picture 2 - Source:
picture 3 - Source: .