Responses of the AC and DC global electric circuits (GECs) to the large eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HT-HH) volcano on 15 January 2022 are discussed. The AC-related investigation is based on Schumann resonance (SR) measurements from six stations on four continents. The DC-related investigation utilizes atmospheric electric field (potential gradient, PG) measurements from six recording stations in Europe and the USA. According to data from the GLD360 and WWLLN lightning detection networks, the peak lightning stroke rate, 83/s, was dominated by negative polarity lightning, but the distributions of positive and negative lightning discharges in latitude and longitude around the volcano differed. A global intensification of SR is apparent in connection with the enhanced lightning activity caused by the eruption. SR data-based results confirm that the lightning activity in the eruption dominated the naturally occurring global activity for a period of about 1 hr. The highly localized increase in lightning activity over HT-HH was a unique point source of SR excitation. PG measurements suggest that impulse-like charging of the DC GEC, by ~15%, via negative cloud-to-ground lightning strokes took place twice during the eruption. A time constant of 7 or 8 min has been inferred for near-surface PG changes due to these enhancements. This could be the first direct measurement of the time constant of the GEC near the Earth's surface, as well as the first observation of the direct charging of the DC GEC by a unique atmospheric electrified source.
Bór, J., et al. "Responses of the AC/DC Global Electric Circuit to Volcanic Electrical Activity in the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Eruption on 15 January 2022." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 128, no. 8, Mar. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jd038238
Bór, J., Bozóki, T., Sátori, G., Williams, E., Behnke, Sonja Ann, Rycroft, M. J., Buzás, A., Silva, H. G., Kubicki, M., Said, R., Vagasky, C., Steinbach, P., André, K. Szabóné, & Atkinson, M. (2023). Responses of the AC/DC Global Electric Circuit to Volcanic Electrical Activity in the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Eruption on 15 January 2022. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128(8). https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jd038238
Bór, J., Bozóki, T., Sátori, G., et al., "Responses of the AC/DC Global Electric Circuit to Volcanic Electrical Activity in the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Eruption on 15 January 2022," Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 128, no. 8 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jd038238
@article{osti_1990138,
author = {Bór, J. and Bozóki, T. and Sátori, G. and Williams, E. and Behnke, Sonja Ann and Rycroft, M. J. and Buzás, A. and Silva, H. G. and Kubicki, M. and Said, R. and others},
title = {Responses of the AC/DC Global Electric Circuit to Volcanic Electrical Activity in the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Eruption on 15 January 2022},
annote = {Responses of the AC and DC global electric circuits (GECs) to the large eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HT-HH) volcano on 15 January 2022 are discussed. The AC-related investigation is based on Schumann resonance (SR) measurements from six stations on four continents. The DC-related investigation utilizes atmospheric electric field (potential gradient, PG) measurements from six recording stations in Europe and the USA. According to data from the GLD360 and WWLLN lightning detection networks, the peak lightning stroke rate, 83/s, was dominated by negative polarity lightning, but the distributions of positive and negative lightning discharges in latitude and longitude around the volcano differed. A global intensification of SR is apparent in connection with the enhanced lightning activity caused by the eruption. SR data-based results confirm that the lightning activity in the eruption dominated the naturally occurring global activity for a period of about 1 hr. The highly localized increase in lightning activity over HT-HH was a unique point source of SR excitation. PG measurements suggest that impulse-like charging of the DC GEC, by ~15%, via negative cloud-to-ground lightning strokes took place twice during the eruption. A time constant of 7 or 8 min has been inferred for near-surface PG changes due to these enhancements. This could be the first direct measurement of the time constant of the GEC near the Earth's surface, as well as the first observation of the direct charging of the DC GEC by a unique atmospheric electrified source.},
doi = {10.1029/2022jd038238},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1990138},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
issn = {ISSN 2169-897X},
number = {8},
volume = {128},
place = {United States},
publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
year = {2023},
month = {03}}
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 364, Issue 1845https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2006.1814