Australian atmospheric pressure and sea level data during the 2022 Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai volcano tsunami

Abstract

On January 15, 2022, an ongoing eruption at the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai volcano generated a large explosion which resulted in a globally observed tsunami and atmospheric pressure wave. This paper presents time series observations of the event from Australia including 503 mean sea level pressure (MSLP) sensors and 103 tide gauges. Data is provided in its original format, which varies between data providers, and a post-processed format with consistent file structure and time zone. High-pass filtered variants of the data are also provided to facilitate study of the pressure wave and tsunami. For a minority of tide gauges the raw sea level data cannot be provided, due to licence restrictions, but high-pass filtered data is always provided. The data provides an important historical record of the volcanic pressure wave and tsunami in Australia. It will be useful for research on atmospheric and ocean waves associated with large volcanic eruptions.