Timelines of plume characteristics of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai
eruption sequence from 19 December 2021 to 16 January 2022: Himawari-8
observations
Abstract
The 15 January 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) eruption was
preceded by large eruptions on 19 December 2021 and 13 January 2022. We
present the evolution of umbrella cloud top height for all three major
HTHH eruptions using satellite remote sensing. We also determined the
umbrella clouds’ radial expansion and volumetric flow rates (VFR) and
confirmed that the umbrellas on all three dates contained significant
water and ice. Additionally, we identified two umbrella clouds at
distinct elevations on 15 January 2022. Specifically, after 05:30 UTC,
the strong westward propagation of an upper umbrella (UB) cloud at 31 km
± 1–3km enabled the visibility of the lower umbrella (UA) cloud at 17
km ± 1–2km. The satellite-derived VFR for 15 January 2022 was 5.0 ± 1.0
x 1011 m3s-1, nearly two orders of magnitude higher than the VFRs
estimated for the 19 December 2021 and 13 January 2022 eruptions.