Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption detected at the University Observatory Jena

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai 2022 volcanic eruption in Tonga occurred on 15 January 2022. A magnitude 5.8 earthquake was recorded at 05:14 CET.

This volcanic eruption is probably the strongest in the world since the eruption of Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991.

A massive phreatomagmatic explosion caused a shock wave in the Earth's atmosphere that spread across the entire globe (see movies below).

This shock wave could also be detected at the site of the University Observatory Jena (see figure above).

The automatic weather station of the observatory recorded an abrupt increase in atmospheric pressure (amplitude of 1.1 hPa) that reached its maximum at 20:35 CET on 15 January 2022,

i.e. 15 hours and 21min after the volcanic eruption. With the distance between Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai and the site of the University Observatory Jena (16580 km) this yields

a sound speed of 300 m/s, which corresponds to the sound speed in the international standard atmosphere in an altitude of 9833 m.

Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption, as imaged by the weather satellite Himawari-8.

Propagation of the shock wave in the Earth's atmosphere, caused by the Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption, as imaged by the weather satellite Himawari-8.