Volcanoes and Climate:Sizing up the Impact of the Recent Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Volcanic Eruption from a Historical Perspective

An undersea volcano at Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai(HTHH)near the South Pacific island nation of Tonga,erupted violently on 15 January 2022.Potential climate impact of the HTHH volcanic eruption is of great concern to the public;here,we intend to size up the impact of the HTHH eruption from a historical perspective.The influence of historical volcanic eruptions on the global climate are firstly reviewed,which are thought to have contributed to decreased surface temperature,increased stratospheric temperature,suppressed global water cycle,weakened monsoon circulation and El Niño-like sea surface temperature.Our understanding of the impacts of past volcanic eruptions on global-scale climate provides potential implication to evaluate the impact of the HTHH eruption.Based on historical simulations,we estimate that the current HTHH eruption with an intensity of 0.4 Tg SO_(2)injection will decrease the global mean surface temperature by only 0.004℃in the first year after eruption,which is within the amplitude of internal variability at the interannual time scale and thus not strong enough to have significant impacts on the global climate.

Under the surface:Pressure-induced planetary-scale waves,volcanic lightning,and gaseous clouds caused by the submarine eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano

We present a narrative of the eruptive events culminating in the cataclysmic January 15, 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Volcano by synthesizing diverse preliminary seismic, volcanological, sound wave, and lightning data available within the first few weeks after the eruption occurred. The first hour of eruptive activity produced fast-propagating tsunami waves, long-period seismic waves, loud audible sound waves, infrasonic waves, exceptionally intense volcanic lightning and an unsteady volcanic plume that transiently reached-at 58km-the Earth’s mesosphere. Energetic seismic signals were recorded worldwide and the globally stacked seismogram showed episodic seismic events within the most intense periods of phreatoplinian activity, and they correlated well with the infrasound pressure waveform recorded in Fiji. Gravity wave signals were strong enough to be observed over the entire planet in just the first few hours, with some circling the Earth multiple times subsequently. These large-amplitude, long-wavelength atmospheric disturbances come from the Earth’s atmosphere being forced by the magmatic mixture of tephra, melt and gasses emitted by the unsteady but quasicontinuous eruption from 0402±1–1800 UTC on January 15, 2022. Atmospheric forcing lasted much longer than rupturing from large earthquakes recorded on modern instruments, producing a type of shock wave that originated from the interaction between compressed air and ambient(wavy) sea surface. This scenario differs from conventional ideas of earthquake slip, landslides, or caldera collapse-generated tsunami waves because of the enormous(~1000x) volumetric change due to the supercritical nature of volatiles associated with the hot,volatile-rich phreatoplinian plume. The time series of plume altitude can be translated to volumetric discharge and mass flow rate. For an eruption duration of ~12 h, the eruptive volume and mass are estimated at 1.9 km^(3) and~2 900 Tg, respectively, corresponding to a VEI of 5–6 for this event. The high frequency and intensity of lightning was enhanced by the production of fine ash due to magma-seawater interaction with concomitant high charge per unit mass and the high pre-eruptive concentration of dissolved volatiles. Analysis of lightning flash frequencies provides a rapid metric for plume activity and eruption magnitude. Many aspects of this eruption await further investigation by multidisciplinary teams. It represents a unique opportunity for fundamental research regarding the complex, non-linear behavior of high energetic volcanic eruptions and attendant phenomena, with critical implications for hazard mitigation, volcano forecasting, and first-response efforts in future disasters.

汤加火山喷发对不同区域背景噪声的影响

当地时间2022年1月15日汤加Hunga Tonga-HungaHa’apai火山发生剧烈喷发,引发了MS 5.8地震和海啸。为了研究汤加火山喷发对全球范围内台站背景噪声的影响,在全球范围内选取2022年1月1—20日震中距0°—150°的14个宽频带地震台站进行功率谱密度分析、0°—60°的7个地震台站进行极化分析。通过分析各地震台站噪声功率谱密度及极化分析结果后发现:虽然此次汤加火山喷发引起了全球范围的海啸波,但是除了震中距120°范围内地震台站10—30 s周期的PSD值在火山地震发生后有明显变化外,其他地震台站不同周期的PSD值变化与汤加火山喷发均无相关性。汤加火山喷发没有改变1—30 s周期的背景噪声源区,各台站的背景噪声来源方向较稳定,但不同频段的背景噪声来源有一定的差异性。

2022汤加火山灰羽流的气溶胶光学、微物理和辐射特性

作为21世纪乃至近30年最强的火山喷发之一,2022年汤加火山喷发事件已经引起了广泛关注.研究表明,汤加火山喷发所产生的大量火山灰气溶胶突破对流层进入平流层,形成了一个顶部高度约为25~30 km的火山灰羽流.在喷发后的4天内,火山灰羽流在平流层环流的驱动下迅速向西移动了近10000 km.侵入平流层的火山灰气溶胶导致整个澳大利亚北部的大气气溶胶负荷显著增加,气溶胶光学厚度(AOD)在澳大利亚东北部海岸达到1.5,约为侵入前一日的15倍.此次汤加火山灰羽流主要以半径集中在~0.26μm处的细模态颗粒物为主,同时其体积峰值达到0.25μm^(3)μm^(-2).汤加火山喷发对平流层AOD和辐射平衡的影响显著,卫星观测到的平流层AOD的扰动高达0.6.这种扰动在很大程度上解释了区域性地表(大气层顶)的瞬时短波辐射强迫可达-105.0 W m^(-2)(-65.0 W m^(-2)).