Mega-Eruption of the Hunga Volcano on January 15, 2022: Detection of Ionospheric Perturbations by VLF and GNSS Radio Sounding

The synchronous response of the lower and upper ionosphere to the propagation of the atmospheric Lamb wave and tsunami that were generated by the mega-eruption of the Hunga submarine volcano on January 15, 2022, has been studied for the first time using data from very low frequency radio sounding in the Far East area of Russia and the Japanese–Australian network of receivers of global navigation satellite system signals. It has been found that wave-like variations of very low frequency and global navigation satellite system signals not only appear at the intersection of radio paths by Lamb waves and tsunamis but also demonstrate nonlocal effects owing to the geomagnetic field. Such variations are caused by the action of internal gravity waves generated by these sources and the dust component of eruption on the ionosphere. The energy of the main eruption has been estimated and detected ionospheric perturbations have been interpreted.