Earth Sciences

The unexpected radiative impact of the Hunga Tonga eruption of 15th January 2022

P. Sellitto, A. Podglajen, et al.

Explore the groundbreaking findings from P. Sellitto and colleagues, who investigated the vast impacts of the January 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption on our climate, including the largest stratospheric aerosol perturbation since 1991 and significant radiative effects in the atmosphere.

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Playback language: English

Index

Abstract

The underwater Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted on January 15, 2022, injecting volcanic gases and aerosols into the stratosphere. This study synthesizes observations to investigate stratospheric aerosol and water vapor perturbations and quantifies the radiative impact using radiative transfer modeling. The eruption caused the largest global perturbation of stratospheric aerosols since Pinatubo (1991) and the largest stratospheric water vapor perturbation in the satellite era. Initially, water vapor radiative cooling dominated, but after two weeks, water vapor heating led to net warming of the climate system.

Publisher

Communications Earth & Environment

Published On

Oct 26, 2022

Authors

P. Sellitto, A. Podglajen, R. Belhadji, M. Boichu, E. Carboni, J. Cuesta, C. Duchamp, C. Kloss, R. Siddans, N. Bègue, L. Blarel, F. Jegou, S. Khaykin, J.-B. Renard, B. Legras

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