Tracking SO2 plumes from the Tonga volcano eruption with multi-satellite observations

Congzi Xia; Cheng Liu; Zhaonan Cai; Hongyu Wu; Qingxiang Li; Meng Gao

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.109446

Tracking SO₂ plumes from the Tonga volcano eruption with multi-satellite observations

Congzi Xia
, Cheng Liu^*
, Zhaonan Cai
, Hongyu Wu
, Qingxiang Li
, Meng Gao^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) volcano eruption received worldwide attention due to its magnitude and potential effects on environment and climate. However, the operational sulfur dioxide (SO₂) products mis-estimated SO₂ emissions under volcanic conditions due to large uncertainties in the assumptions of SO₂ plume altitude. That might have occurred in previous volcanic eruptions and misled understanding of the evolution of sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere and their impact on global climate. Here, we simultaneously retrieved the volcanic SO₂ and its plume altitude from the Troposphere Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and the Environment Monitoring Instrument-2 (EMI-2), exploring the SO₂ burden, distribution, and evolution from January 14 to 17. We captured multiple eruptions with the second eruption emitting far more SO₂ than the first. Total emissions exceeded 900 kt, significantly higher than those from operational products. Our inferred emission fluxes and injection heights offer valuable references for climate modeling and submarine volcano studies.

Original language	English
Article number	109446
Number of pages	13
Journal	iScience
Volume	27
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109446
Publication status	Published - 19 Apr 2024

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This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13 Climate Action
SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals

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10.1016/j.isci.2024.109446

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title = "Tracking SO2 plumes from the Tonga volcano eruption with multi-satellite observations",

abstract = "The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) volcano eruption received worldwide attention due to its magnitude and potential effects on environment and climate. However, the operational sulfur dioxide (SO2) products mis-estimated SO2 emissions under volcanic conditions due to large uncertainties in the assumptions of SO2 plume altitude. That might have occurred in previous volcanic eruptions and misled understanding of the evolution of sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere and their impact on global climate. Here, we simultaneously retrieved the volcanic SO2 and its plume altitude from the Troposphere Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and the Environment Monitoring Instrument-2 (EMI-2), exploring the SO2 burden, distribution, and evolution from January 14 to 17. We captured multiple eruptions with the second eruption emitting far more SO2 than the first. Total emissions exceeded 900 kt, significantly higher than those from operational products. Our inferred emission fluxes and injection heights offer valuable references for climate modeling and submarine volcano studies.",

author = "Congzi Xia and Cheng Liu and Zhaonan Cai and Hongyu Wu and Qingxiang Li and Meng Gao",

note = "This work was supported by the 2021 Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology Research Platform Project, Guangdong Provincial Smart Vocational Education Engineering Technology Research Center (2021A118), Innovation Team Project of Colleges and Universities of Guangdong Provincial Department of Education (Natural Science) (2022KCXTD047), National Natural Science Foundation of China (42225504) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFC3700100). The authors would like to thank the European Space Agency (ESA) for providing the Sentinal-5 Precursor products. TROPOMI was developed by ESA and The Netherlands Space Office. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 The Authors.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.isci.2024.109446",

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AU - Xia, Congzi

AU - Liu, Cheng

AU - Cai, Zhaonan

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AU - Li, Qingxiang

AU - Gao, Meng

N1 - This work was supported by the 2021 Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology Research Platform Project, Guangdong Provincial Smart Vocational Education Engineering Technology Research Center (2021A118), Innovation Team Project of Colleges and Universities of Guangdong Provincial Department of Education (Natural Science) (2022KCXTD047), National Natural Science Foundation of China (42225504) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFC3700100). The authors would like to thank the European Space Agency (ESA) for providing the Sentinal-5 Precursor products. TROPOMI was developed by ESA and The Netherlands Space Office. Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors.

PY - 2024/4/19

Y1 - 2024/4/19

N2 - The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) volcano eruption received worldwide attention due to its magnitude and potential effects on environment and climate. However, the operational sulfur dioxide (SO2) products mis-estimated SO2 emissions under volcanic conditions due to large uncertainties in the assumptions of SO2 plume altitude. That might have occurred in previous volcanic eruptions and misled understanding of the evolution of sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere and their impact on global climate. Here, we simultaneously retrieved the volcanic SO2 and its plume altitude from the Troposphere Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and the Environment Monitoring Instrument-2 (EMI-2), exploring the SO2 burden, distribution, and evolution from January 14 to 17. We captured multiple eruptions with the second eruption emitting far more SO2 than the first. Total emissions exceeded 900 kt, significantly higher than those from operational products. Our inferred emission fluxes and injection heights offer valuable references for climate modeling and submarine volcano studies.

AB - The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) volcano eruption received worldwide attention due to its magnitude and potential effects on environment and climate. However, the operational sulfur dioxide (SO2) products mis-estimated SO2 emissions under volcanic conditions due to large uncertainties in the assumptions of SO2 plume altitude. That might have occurred in previous volcanic eruptions and misled understanding of the evolution of sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere and their impact on global climate. Here, we simultaneously retrieved the volcanic SO2 and its plume altitude from the Troposphere Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and the Environment Monitoring Instrument-2 (EMI-2), exploring the SO2 burden, distribution, and evolution from January 14 to 17. We captured multiple eruptions with the second eruption emitting far more SO2 than the first. Total emissions exceeded 900 kt, significantly higher than those from operational products. Our inferred emission fluxes and injection heights offer valuable references for climate modeling and submarine volcano studies.

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VL - 27

JO - iScience

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Tracking SO₂ plumes from the Tonga volcano eruption with multi-satellite observations

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