The Tonga volcano came to disturb the ionosphere

NASA detected the shock wave caused by Tonga’s explosive undersea eruption last January moving through Earth’s upper atmosphere.

When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on January 15, 2022, it unleashed a violent explosion with a force equivalent to between 4 and 18 megatons of TNT, according to estimates by NASA geologist Jim Garvin.

This explosion produced an acoustic shock wave that was strong enough to disturb the ionosphere, the outer layer of the atmosphere that begins 80 to 90 kilometers above the Earth’s surface and contains electrons ionized by energy from the Sun, according to measurements from the Global Differential Global Positioning System (GDGPS) managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The eruption also triggered a tsunami, which was reinforced by atmospheric pressure waves from the explosion, a phenomenon known as a meteotsunami. The deformation of the ocean surface by these large waves further disturbed the ionosphere. The GDGPS observed ionospheric disturbances caused by the explosion and subsequent meteotsunami in real time, reports the POT.

The system monitors the density of electrons in the ionosphere (measured as Total Electron Content Units, or TECUs) by tracking the delay of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signals as they travel through the Earth. atmosphere.