Numerical simulation of atmospheric lamb waves generated by the 2022 Hunga-Tonga volcanic eruption

Abstract

On January 15th, 2022, around 4:30 UTC the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga volcano, in 15 the South Pacific Ocean, generated a violent underwater explosion. In addition to tsunami 16 waves that affected the Pacific coasts, the eruption created atmospheric pressure distur17 bances that spread out in the form of Lamb waves. The associated atmospheric pressure 18 oscillations were detected in high-frequency in-situ observations all over the globe. Here 19 we take advantage of the similarities in the propagation and characteristics between at20 mospheric Lamb waves and long ocean waves and we use a 2DH ocean numerical model 21 to simulate the phenomenon. We compare the outputs of the numerical simulation with 22 in-situ atmospheric pressure records and with remote satellite observations. The signal 23 in the model matches the observed atmospheric pressure perturbations and reveals an 24 excellent agreement in the wave arrival time between model and observations at hun25 dreds of locations at different distances from the origin.