Volcanic eruption penetrates mesosphere
On January 15, a powerful volcanic eruption obliterated a small, uninhabited South Pacific island known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai. Satellite imagery showed the eruption, with a plume of brown ash, steam and gas rising like a mushroom above the blue Pacific waters. A sonic boom could be heard as far away as Alaska, and associated tsunami waves crossed the ocean and reached Canada's Pacific coast later that same day.
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Erupts January 15, 2022. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
NASA scientists have since revealed that the plume from the explosive eruption rocketed debris up to 58 kilometres into the atmosphere, allowing it to briefly penetrate the middle layer of the atmosphere called the mesosphere.
Layers of the atmosphere
Our planet's atmosphere is made up of five main layers.
