The massive explosion of the volcano in Tonga on January 15 and then also ejected material up to a height of 58 km. According to NASA data, this is the eruption of volcanic material ever recorded by satellite.
This eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano is 1.5 times higher than the previous record held by Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991. It reaches the mesosphere, the layer of the atmosphere between the stratosphere and thermosphere.
"The intensity of this event far exceeds any storm cloud I've ever studied," said NASA atmospheric scientist Kristopher Bedka, as quoted by Gizmodo, Sunday (20/2/2022).
"We were fortunate that the event was monitored so closely by our latest generation of geostationary satellites and we were able to use this data in innovative ways to document its evolution."
NASA managed to observe this burst thanks to two weather satellites that were in the right position and time. The two satellites, NOAA's GOES-17 and JAxa's Himawari-18, have similar imaging systems.
The two satellites observed this eruption from slightly different angles so that they could produce observations in three dimensions. The two satellites took several photos and infrared observations showing the eruption timeline from above.
Within about 30 minutes of the eruption, ash, steam and gas from this underwater volcano erupts to its peak height in the mesosphere. The second burst managed to reach a height of 50 km, at the boundary between the mesosphere and stratosphere.
Incredible new analysis: parallax observations by GOES & Himawari show that the Hunga Tonga eruption sent its plume of ash and gas to the mesosphere.
This is likely a new record in the satellite era.https://t.co/wvqfYIHfIS #remotesensing #earthobservation #scicomm #gis #maps pic.twitter.com/cgD58EUvvx
— Joshua Stevens (@jscarto) February 16, 2022
Bedka said the force of the eruption was influenced by the combination of the extreme heat from the volcano's magma and the flow of seawater.
"It's like hyper-fuel for a mega thunderstorm. Its outburst is 2.5 times higher than any thunderstorm we've ever observed, and its eruption creates an incredible amount of lightning," Bedka said.
Materials hurled by volcanoes into the atmosphere can cause a global cooling effect due to the sulfur dioxide content in volcanic ash. But in the case of the Tonga volcano, the material ejected is water vapor and not sulfur dioxide, so it will not cause a cooling effect.
This burst of material flew into the atmosphere and disappeared within 13 hours on January 15. But the few aerosols that remain can remain in the stratosphere for a full year.
Volcanic eruptions in Tonga which have a strength of up to 30 megatons also cause a powerful tsunami. This archipelagic country was cut off from the outside world because the underwater cable that connected it to the internet was damaged.