Cross-hemispheric transport of the Hunga aerosol plume: in situ evidence and radiative effects from the northern hemisphere

Kloss, Corinna; Berthet, Gwenaël; Sellitto, Pasquale; Bartolome Garcia, Irene; Briaud, Emmanuel; Das, Rubel Chandra; Chevrier, Stéphane; Dumelié, Nicolas; Joly, Lilian; Lecas, Thomas; Marbach, Pauline; Ploeger, Felix; Renard, Jean-Baptiste; Vernier, Jean-Paul; Wienhold, Frank G.; Hegglin, Michaela I.

doi:10.5194/acp-26-8981-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-8981-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-8981-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 12

Research article

|

25 Jun 2026

Research article |

| 25 Jun 2026

Cross-hemispheric transport of the Hunga aerosol plume: in situ evidence and radiative effects from the northern hemisphere

Corinna Kloss, Gwenaël Berthet, Pasquale Sellitto, Irene Bartolome Garcia, Emmanuel Briaud, Rubel Chandra Das, Stéphane Chevrier, Nicolas Dumelié, Lilian Joly, Thomas Lecas, Pauline Marbach, Felix Ploeger, Jean-Baptiste Renard, Jean-Paul Vernier, Frank G. Wienhold, and Michaela I. Hegglin

Data sets

OMPS-NPP L2 LP Aerosol Extinction Vertical Profile swath daily 3slit V2 G. Taha https://doi.org/10.5067/CX2B9NW6FI27

POPS and LOAC v1.5 profiles for concentration and extinction - Hunga Tonga volcanic plume in the midlatitude Northern Hemisphere G. Berthet https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15296481

COBALD/POPC DATA FRANCE 2022 J.-P. Vernier https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28887050.v1

Model code and software

Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS) code repository R. Müller and the CLaMS team https://jugit.fz-juelich.de/clams/CLaMS

Video supplement

Time series of OMPS aerosol extinction at 21-22 km C. Kloss https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15343728

Short summary

In October 2022, we detected volcanic particles in the stratosphere over France, linked to the January 2022 Hunga eruption in the South Pacific. Found between 17 and 23 km altitude, they were traced back to the tropics using trajectory simulations and satellite data. Their optical properties matched those in the Southern Hemisphere. The particles spread across the Northern Hemisphere, reflecting sunlight and slightly cooling the surface – a small but non-negligible effect.