1. Numerical Simulation of Atmospheric Lamb Waves Generated by the 2022 Hunga‐Tonga Volcanic Eruption.
- Author
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Amores, Angel, Monserrat, Sebastian, Marcos, Marta, Argüeso, Daniel, Villalonga, Joan, Jordà, Gabriel, and Gomis, Damià
- Subjects
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HUNGA Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Eruption & Tsunami, 2022 , *LAMB waves , *TSUNAMIS , *ATMOSPHERIC waves , *OCEAN waves , *VOLCANIC eruptions , *SHALLOW-water equations , *ATMOSPHERIC pressure , *SUBMARINE volcanoes - Abstract
On 15 January 2022, around 4:30 UTC the eruption of the Hunga‐Tonga volcano, in the South Pacific Ocean, generated a violent underwater explosion. In addition to tsunami waves that affected the Pacific coasts, the eruption created atmospheric pressure disturbances that spread out in the form of Lamb waves. The associated atmospheric pressure oscillations were detected in high‐frequency in‐situ observations all over the globe. Here we take advantage of the similarities in the propagation and characteristics between atmospheric Lamb waves and long ocean waves and we use a 2DH ocean numerical model to simulate the phenomenon. We compare the outputs of the numerical simulation with in‐situ atmospheric pressure records and with remote satellite observations. The signal in the model matches the observed atmospheric pressure perturbations and reveals an excellent agreement in the wave arrival time between model and observations at hundreds of locations at different distances from the origin. Plain Language Summary: The underwater explosion of the Hunga‐Tonga volcano in the South Pacific Ocean generated atmospheric pressure disturbances, known as Lamb waves, that propagated and surrounded the globe several times. In this study, we exploit the similarities between atmospheric Lamb waves and long waves in the ocean (e.g., tsunamis) to simulate their propagation using an ocean numerical model. The comparison of our results with remote satellite data and in‐situ atmospheric pressure records reveals that our model correctly reproduces the propagation of the atmospheric disturbances generated by the volcano explosion. Key Points: The underwater Hunga‐Tonga volcano exploded generating Lamb waves that traveled around the Earth several timesWe simulate these waves using a hydrostatic shallow water equation oceanic modelThe results closely follow the observations of atmospheric pressure perturbations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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