Periodic oscillations of Doppler frequency excited by the traveling ionospheric disturbances associated with the Tonga eruption in 2022

Abstract The explosive eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on 15 January 2022 generated atmospheric waves traveling around the Earth, which caused ionospheric disturbances on various spatio-temporal scales. A HF Doppler sounding system in Japan detected characteristic ionospheric distu...

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Main Authors: Hiroyuki Nakata, Keisuke Hosokawa, Susumu Saito, Yuichi Otsuka, Ichoro Tomizawa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2023-10-01
Series:Earth, Planets and Space
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-023-01914-4
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author Hiroyuki Nakata
Keisuke Hosokawa
Susumu Saito
Yuichi Otsuka
Ichoro Tomizawa
author_facet Hiroyuki Nakata
Keisuke Hosokawa
Susumu Saito
Yuichi Otsuka
Ichoro Tomizawa
author_sort Hiroyuki Nakata
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The explosive eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on 15 January 2022 generated atmospheric waves traveling around the Earth, which caused ionospheric disturbances on various spatio-temporal scales. A HF Doppler sounding system in Japan detected characteristic ionospheric disturbances showing periodic oscillations in the Doppler frequency with a period of ~ 4 min. In this study, such periodic oscillations were examined by comparing Doppler frequency data with Total Electron Content data obtained by Global Navigation Satellite System. The observed periodic oscillations in the Doppler frequency were characterized by a sawtooth or S-letter shaped variation, implying the passage of the traveling ionospheric disturbances through the reflection points of the HF Doppler sounding system. It was also found that the periodic oscillations occurred prior to the arrival of the tropospheric Lamb wave excited by the Tonga eruption. From the total electron content data, the traveling ionospheric disturbances causing the periodic oscillations were excited by the tropospheric Lamb waves at the conjugate point in the southern hemisphere, namely, the electric field perturbations due to the Lamb waves in the southern hemisphere mapped onto the sensing area of the HF Doppler sounding system in the northern hemisphere along the magnetic field lines. The periodic oscillations were observed only in the path between Chofu transmitter and Sarobetsu receiver, whose the radio propagation path is almost aligned in the north–south direction. This suggests that the traveling ionospheric disturbance has a structure elongating in the meridional direction. The variation in the Doppler frequency was reproduced by using a simple model of the propagation of the traveling ionospheric disturbances and the resultant motion of the reflection point. As a result, the vertical motion of the reflection point associated with the periodic oscillations was estimated to be about 1 km. It is known that 4-min period variations are sometimes observed in association with earthquakes, which is due to resonances of acoustic mode waves propagating between the ground and the lower ionosphere. Therefore, a similar resonance structure in the southern hemisphere is a plausible source of the traveling ionospheric disturbances detected in the northern hemisphere. Graphical Abstract
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spelling doaj.art-118d0110d9654cdc994cf3c7d2c55f5c2023-11-26T12:34:53ZengSpringerOpenEarth, Planets and Space1880-59812023-10-0175111310.1186/s40623-023-01914-4Periodic oscillations of Doppler frequency excited by the traveling ionospheric disturbances associated with the Tonga eruption in 2022Hiroyuki Nakata0Keisuke Hosokawa1Susumu Saito2Yuichi Otsuka3Ichoro Tomizawa4Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba UniversityThe University of Electro-CommunicationsElectronic Navigation Research Institute, National Institute of Maritime, Port and Aviation TechnologyNagoya UniversityThe University of Electro-CommunicationsAbstract The explosive eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on 15 January 2022 generated atmospheric waves traveling around the Earth, which caused ionospheric disturbances on various spatio-temporal scales. A HF Doppler sounding system in Japan detected characteristic ionospheric disturbances showing periodic oscillations in the Doppler frequency with a period of ~ 4 min. In this study, such periodic oscillations were examined by comparing Doppler frequency data with Total Electron Content data obtained by Global Navigation Satellite System. The observed periodic oscillations in the Doppler frequency were characterized by a sawtooth or S-letter shaped variation, implying the passage of the traveling ionospheric disturbances through the reflection points of the HF Doppler sounding system. It was also found that the periodic oscillations occurred prior to the arrival of the tropospheric Lamb wave excited by the Tonga eruption. From the total electron content data, the traveling ionospheric disturbances causing the periodic oscillations were excited by the tropospheric Lamb waves at the conjugate point in the southern hemisphere, namely, the electric field perturbations due to the Lamb waves in the southern hemisphere mapped onto the sensing area of the HF Doppler sounding system in the northern hemisphere along the magnetic field lines. The periodic oscillations were observed only in the path between Chofu transmitter and Sarobetsu receiver, whose the radio propagation path is almost aligned in the north–south direction. This suggests that the traveling ionospheric disturbance has a structure elongating in the meridional direction. The variation in the Doppler frequency was reproduced by using a simple model of the propagation of the traveling ionospheric disturbances and the resultant motion of the reflection point. As a result, the vertical motion of the reflection point associated with the periodic oscillations was estimated to be about 1 km. It is known that 4-min period variations are sometimes observed in association with earthquakes, which is due to resonances of acoustic mode waves propagating between the ground and the lower ionosphere. Therefore, a similar resonance structure in the southern hemisphere is a plausible source of the traveling ionospheric disturbances detected in the northern hemisphere. Graphical Abstracthttps://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-023-01914-4HF Doppler (HFD) soundingTotal electron content (TEC)Traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs)Volcanic eruptionS-shaped variation
spellingShingle Hiroyuki Nakata
Keisuke Hosokawa
Susumu Saito
Yuichi Otsuka
Ichoro Tomizawa
Periodic oscillations of Doppler frequency excited by the traveling ionospheric disturbances associated with the Tonga eruption in 2022
Earth, Planets and Space
HF Doppler (HFD) sounding
Total electron content (TEC)
Traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs)
Volcanic eruption
S-shaped variation
title Periodic oscillations of Doppler frequency excited by the traveling ionospheric disturbances associated with the Tonga eruption in 2022
title_full Periodic oscillations of Doppler frequency excited by the traveling ionospheric disturbances associated with the Tonga eruption in 2022
title_fullStr Periodic oscillations of Doppler frequency excited by the traveling ionospheric disturbances associated with the Tonga eruption in 2022
title_full_unstemmed Periodic oscillations of Doppler frequency excited by the traveling ionospheric disturbances associated with the Tonga eruption in 2022
title_short Periodic oscillations of Doppler frequency excited by the traveling ionospheric disturbances associated with the Tonga eruption in 2022
title_sort periodic oscillations of doppler frequency excited by the traveling ionospheric disturbances associated with the tonga eruption in 2022
topic HF Doppler (HFD) sounding
Total electron content (TEC)
Traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs)
Volcanic eruption
S-shaped variation
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-023-01914-4
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