Rapid Volcanic Modification of the E‐Region Dynamo: ICON's First Glimpse of the Tonga Eruption

Abstract

Abstract The 15 January 2022 Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption drove global atmospheric waves that propagated into space and impacted the ionosphere. Here we show immediate large‐scale electrodynamic effects of the eruption using observations from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ionospheric Connection Explorer. We report extreme zonal and vertical ion drifts thousands of kilometers away from Tonga within an hour of the eruption, before the arrival of any atmospheric wave. The measured drifts were magnetically connected to the ionospheric E‐region just 400 km from Tonga, suggesting that the expanding wavefront created strong electric potentials which were transmitted along Earth's magnetic field. A simple theoretical model suggests that the observed drifts are consistent with an expanding wave with a large (>200 m/s) neutral wind amplitude. These observations are the first direct detection in space of the immediate electrodynamic effects of a volcanic eruption and will help constrain future models of impulsive lower atmospheric events.