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The 15 January 2022 Hunga Tonga eruption history as inferred from ionospheric observations
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  • Elvira Astafyeva,
  • Boris Maletckii,
  • Thomas Dylan Mikesell,
  • Edhah Munaibari,
  • Michela RAVANELLI,
  • Pierdavide Coïsson,
  • Fabio Manta,
  • Lucie Rolland
Elvira Astafyeva
Université Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS UMR 7154

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Boris Maletckii
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
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Thomas Dylan Mikesell
Norwegian Geotechnical Institute,Boise State University
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Edhah Munaibari
Université Côte d'Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, CNRS, IRD, Géoazur, 250 rue Albert Einstein, Sophia Antipolis 06560 Valbonne, France
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Michela RAVANELLI
Université Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, UMR CNRS 7154
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Pierdavide Coïsson
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
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Fabio Manta
Université Côte d'Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, CNRS, IRD, Géoazur, 250 rue Albert Einstein, Sophia Antipolis 06560 Valbonne, France.
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Lucie Rolland
Université Côte d'Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, CNRS, IRD, Géoazur, 250 rue Albert Einstein, Sophia Antipolis 06560 Valbonne, France.
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Abstract

On 15 January 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai submarine volcano erupted violently and triggered a giant atmospheric shock wave and tsunami. The exact mechanism of this extraordinary eruptive event, its size and magnitude are not well understood yet. In this work, we analyze data from the nearest ground-based receivers of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to explore the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) response to this event. We show that the ionospheric response consists of a giant TEC increase followed by a strong long-lasting depletion. We observe that the explosive event of 15 January 2022 began at 04:05:54UT and consisted of at least 5 explosions. Based on the ionospheric TEC data, we estimate the energy released during the main major explosion to be between 9 and 37 Megatons in TNT equivalent. This is the first detailed analysis of the eruption sequence scenario and the timeline from ionospheric TEC observations.
28 May 2022Published in Geophysical Research Letters volume 49 issue 10. 10.1029/2022GL098827