Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai volcano removes methane from eruption plume
Updated
Updated · Via Ritzau · May 7
Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai volcano removes methane from eruption plume
12 articles · Updated · Via Ritzau · May 7
Using ESA Sentinel-5P satellite data, researchers tracked formaldehyde in the South Pacific plume for 10 days to South America, estimating methane removal at about 900 megagrams a day.
The study says salty seawater, volcanic ash and sunlight likely generated reactive chlorine in the stratosphere, breaking down methane released during the January 2022 eruption.
Published in Nature Communications, the findings could revise the global methane budget and aid efforts to verify methane-removal technologies, though researchers say cutting CO2 remains essential.
Can we safely copy a volcano's chemistry to remove methane, or would this geoengineering create a new atmospheric disaster?
Did the Tonga volcano's methane-eating chemistry cool the planet, or did its water vapor injection make global warming worse?
Is this discovery a climate breakthrough, or a risky distraction from the urgent need to cut fossil fuel emissions?
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai 2022 Eruption: Record-Breaking Water Vapor Injection and Its Impact on Stratospheric Chemistry and Climate
Overview
On January 15, 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai submarine volcano erupted explosively, sending a massive plume over 56 km high and injecting unprecedented amounts of water vapor into the stratosphere, increasing its moisture by about 10% for years. This water vapor accelerated the rapid formation and growth of sulfate aerosols from volcanic sulfur dioxide, which triggered complex chemical reactions activating chlorine radicals. These radicals efficiently removed methane and caused significant ozone depletion in the tropical stratosphere, with effects extending to polar regions. Despite these dramatic changes, the eruption’s limited sulfur emissions and aerosol formation led to only a slight global surface cooling of about 0.05°C, highlighting water vapor’s dominant role in the long-term atmospheric response.