Stratospheric aerosol formed by intense volcanism–sea interaction during the 2022 Hunga Ha'apai eruption

Martinsson, Bengt G.; Friberg, Johan; Sporre, Moa K.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10677-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10677-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10677-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 18

Research article

|

17 Sep 2025

Research article |

| 17 Sep 2025

Stratospheric aerosol formed by intense volcanism–sea interaction during the 2022 Hunga Ha'apai eruption

Bengt G. Martinsson, Johan Friberg, and Moa K. Sporre

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-10677-2025-supplement

Data sets

CALIOP V4.51 lidar data NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/CAL_LID_L1-Standard-V4-51

MLS data (version 5.0-1.0a, level 2) Lambert et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/Aura/MLS/DATA2508

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Short summary

Highly variable stratospheric aerosol bears great importance for Earth's climate. The 1-year average aerosol load from the 2022 volcanic eruption in Hunga Tonga is the highest since the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption. The usual volcanic aerosol precursor gas (SO₂) mass was not sufficient to explain the aerosol load. Intense volcanism–sea interaction amplified the eruption, and sea salt emission forms a plausible explanation for the high aerosol loading.