Spectral characteristics of ionospheric disturbances over the
Southwestern Pacific from the January 15, 2022 Tonga eruption and
tsunami
Abstract
On January 15, 2022, Tonga’s Hunga volcano violently erupted, generating
a tsunami that killed at least three people. Acoustic-gravity waves
propagated by both the eruption and tsunami caused global complex
ionospheric disturbances. In this paper, we study the nature of these
disturbances from Global Navigation Satellite System observables over
the southwestern Pacific. After processing data from 818 ground
stations, we find that supersonic acoustic waves, Lamb waves, and
tsunamis are all detected, with filtered magnitudes between 1 and 7
Total Electron Content units. Disturbances appear superpositioned up to
~1000 km from Hunga and are distinct beyond this
distance. Within ~2000 km, signals have an initial
low-frequency pulse that transition to higher frequencies. The arrival
of tsunami-generated ionospheric disturbances coincides with deep-ocean
observations. Lastly, we find that the Lamb wave and initial tsunami
propagated minutes apart at the same velocity, leading to earlier land
arrivals than predicted.