Ionospheric signatures of repeated passages of atmospheric waves by the 2022 Jan. 15 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption detected by QZSS-TEC observations in Japan

Abstract

A large eruption occurred on Jan. 15, 2022, at the submarine volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, southern Pacific, and the atmospheric Lamb wave was observed to have traveled round the Earth multiple times with a speed of ~ 0.3 km/s. Here, I compare their ionospheric and atmospheric signatures using data from dense arrays of barometers and GNSS stations in Japan. I confirmed that the ionospheric disturbances passed over Japan at least four times, first from SE to NW, then from NW to SE, again from SE to NW, and finally from NW to SE. The propagation velocity of the ionospheric disturbances was as fast as the atmospheric Lamb wave, suggesting their origin as upward energy leakage from the troposphere. The first passage of the ionospheric disturbance started prior to the arrival of the Lamb pulse, but its physical mechanism is yet to be explored. Unlike the barometric records, waveforms and amplitudes of ionospheric disturbances exhibit large diversity along the wavefront, suggesting their turbulent nature. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]