The eruption of the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga in the Pacific Ocean earlier this year was so powerful that it sent huge amounts of water vapor into space.
According to research results released Monday (13/12), scientists have never before found a volcano that launches water outside the Earth's atmosphere. This research underscores the extraordinarily violent nature of volcanic eruptions, and sheds light on the broader risks from underwater volcanoes.
Satellite observations show that the eruption of Mount Hunga Tonga on January 15, 2022 pushed water vapor as far as approximately 150 km from the planet's surface, exceeding the generally accepted space limit of 100 km.
Research presented in Chicago at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union revealed the eruption sent as much as 4 million metric tons of water vapor into space.
"This is truly a unique event. In 20 years of making observations, we've never seen anything like it," said Larry Paxton, a scientist in the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, quoted by the Washington Post.
This event caught the attention of scientists who use satellites to monitor space weather. They track space weather because of the risk that a catastrophic solar storm could send plumes of charged particles to Earth. These solar storms have the potential to interact with Earth's magnetic field in ways that could damage satellites in orbit, and even affect surface power grids.
Just before a volcanic eruption, and purely by chance, a moderate-sized solar storm sends a burst of charged particles toward Earth. But according to Claire Gasque, a doctoral candidate in space physics at the University of California, volcanoes have an even stronger effect on the ionosphere.
"Among the surprising effects, currents known as equatorial electrojets, which normally flow from west to east in the ionosphere, reversed," he said.
"This is a moderate solar storm versus a very strong volcano. So it's not like the volcano will always win," said Gasque.
The data can help scientists improve their understanding of space weather. Researchers think this eruption is a good example for understanding the impact of a sudden burst of impulsive energy in the lower atmosphere on the space environment.