National Centre for Earth Observation, RAL Space, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell OX11, UK.
Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK.
Science. 2022 Nov 4;378(6619):554-557. doi: 10.1126/science.abo4076. Epub 2022 Nov 3.
Explosive volcanic eruptions can loft ash, gases, and water into the stratosphere, which affects both human activities and the climate. Using geostationary satellite images of the 15 January 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, we find that the volcanic plume produced by this volcano reached an altitude of 57 kilometers at its highest extent. This places the plume in the lower mesosphere and provides observational evidence of a volcanic eruption injecting material through the stratosphere and directly into the mesosphere. We then discuss potential implications of this injection and suggest that the altitude reached by plumes from previous eruptions, such as the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, may have been underestimated because of a lack of observational data.
剧烈的火山喷发可以将火山灰、气体和水喷射到平流层，从而影响人类活动和气候。利用地球静止卫星于 2022 年 1 月 15 日拍摄的洪加汤加-洪加哈帕伊火山喷发的图像，我们发现这座火山喷发的火山羽流最高达到 57 公里的高度。这表明羽流进入了中间层下部，并提供了观测证据，证明火山喷发将物质喷射穿过平流层并直接进入中间层。然后，我们讨论了这种喷射的潜在影响，并认为以前喷发（如 1991 年皮纳图博火山喷发）的羽流达到的高度可能由于缺乏观测数据而被低估。
