When the underwater volcano Tonga-Hunga Sa’apai erupted on January 15, its effects were felt across the globe. The tsunamis caused by the eruption affected the coastlines of much of the world and, without a doubt, the peaceful nation took the worst part. Months later, a to research published in the journal Nature confirmed that this eruption had become the largest explosion on Earth in the modern erabeing registered as one of the most powerful ever observed.
Its consequences were felt from the first moment, triggering atmospheric gravity waves that circled the world 4 times and sending the debris caused by the explosion to more than 50 kilometers altitude in the atmosphere. However, its consequences for the planet were still far from over.
The ashes and gases reached the atmosphere along with billion liters of water vaporas indicated by a new study published in the specialized journal Geophysical Research Letters and under the title The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai hydration of the stratosphere.
This eruption is the largest explosion on Earth in the modern era and one of the most powerful ever observed.
A unique event
This eruption continues to pose a challenge on a scale never seen before for researchers because, according to the new study, its effects could reach change the earth’s climate to the point of heating it over the next five years, also affecting the ozone layer.
Until now, it had never been observed that an event of such magnitude could inject such a quantity of water vapor into the atmosphere, so the scientific community remains vigilant to analyze its medium and long-term effects. term.
That’s why space technology has been instrumental in unlocking the mystery of water vapor in the atmosphere: thanks to the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), a device aboard NASA’s Aura satellite that measures a variety of compounds in the Earth’s atmosphere at heights of more than 100 kilometers, the authors of the study were able to analyze the amount of water and sulfur dioxide that the eruption expelled into the atmosphere.
It has never been observed that an event of this magnitude can inject such a quantity of water vapor into the atmosphere.
Luis Millán, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and co-author of the research, researched these two compounds in particular for their ability to affect climate. The study estimates indicate that 146,000 million liters of water reached the stratosphere, equivalent to 58,000 Olympic swimming pools or, which comes to the same thing, 10% of the water that was already in the stratosphere.
Water vapor could stay in the stratosphere for 5 years
Although already widely documented, cooling effect of volcanoes on global climate due to the arrival of sulfur dioxide in the upper layers of the atmosphereReflecting the sun’s rays outwards, Tonga’s volcano continues to pose new challenges.
Such a quantity of water vapor in the atmosphere can cause a completely opposite effect: water absorbs the sun’s energy instead of reflecting it, which reinforces the greenhouse effect. While the sulfur dioxide will dissipate in a few years, the water could reach stay 5 years or moreaccelerating the warming already produced by greenhouse gases.
However, all of these effects require time to be documented and studied, so there is currently no consensus in the scientific community on the long-term effects of the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, a subterranean volcano. mariner that continues to break records of its magnitude, offering data never seen before.
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