Oscillations of the Ionosphere Caused by the 2022 Tonga Volcanic
Eruption Observed with SuperDARN Radars
Jiyao Xu
State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Center for Space Science and Applied research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China., State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Center for Space Science and Applied research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Author ProfileAbstract
On 15 January 2022, the submarine volcano on the southwest Pacific
island of Tonga violently erupted. Thus far, the ionospheric oscillation
features caused by the volcanic eruption have not been identified. Here,
observations from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN)
radars and digisondes \change{are}{were} employed to
analyze ionospheric oscillations in the Northern Hemisphere caused by
the volcanic eruption in Tonga. Due to the magnetic field conjugate
effect, the ionospheric oscillations were observed much earlier than the
arrival of surface air pressure waves, and the maximum negative
line-of-sight (LOS) velocity of the ionospheric oscillations exceeded
100 m/s in the F layer. After the surface air pressure waves arrived,
the maximum LOS velocity in the E layer approached 150 m/s. A maximum
upward displacement of 100 km was observed in the ionosphere. This work
provides a new perspective for understanding the strong ionospheric
oscillation caused by geological hazards observed on Earth.