NSF Award
2426145
This RAPID project is focused on the study of the short and long-term influence of the undersea Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) volcanic eruption in 2022 on stratospheric chemistry, temperatures, and dynamics. The study has the potential to significantly advance knowledge on many critical scientific questions about the impacts of large volcanic eruptions on the stratosphere. This research will provide information on the spatiotemporal evolution of injected water vapor and water mass distribution, changes to chemical composition of compounds relevant to ozone concentrations and attribution of these changes to specific chemical mechanisms. This effort will increase understanding about the global impacts of large volcanic eruptions on the stratospheric ozone layer.<br/><br/>To better understand the long-term implications of large volcanic eruptions, the following questions will be addressed: (1) How much of the injected water vapor is still in the stratosphere and where it is located? (2) How does the evolution of the water vapor distribution with time, altitude, and latitude change our understanding of stratospheric circulation? (3) What is the long-term impact of the HTHH eruption on chemical composition in the stratosphere? (4) How much ozone was lost at midlatitudes, the tropics, and the poles, respectively? (5) What is the relative importance of the changes in chemistry versus dynamics? (6) What are the most important mechanisms driving compositional changes due to chemistry? (7) Which chemical changes are due to enhanced sulfate, which are due to enhanced water vapor, and which are due to both? (8) How has the stratosphere ‘recovered’ as time has passed since the eruption? (9) Why was the impact on heterogeneous chemistry reactions so large despite the relatively small amount of sulfur dioxide injected from the eruption? (10) Will there be record-setting polar ozone holes in the near future due to the enhanced water vapor?<br/><br/>The broader impacts of this research include the benefits to human health and society realized from a better understanding of the risks associated with volcanic eruptions of damage to the ozone layer that provides critical protection to life on the planet from harmful solar UV radiation. An investigation of the volcanic impacts on the stratosphere in the Northern Hemisphere is a priority since this is where the bulk of the Earth’s population resides. This RAPID research project will provide critical information in a timely way on potential damage to the Earth’s ozone layer due to the short and long-term impacts of the HTHH eruption on chemical composition in the stratosphere.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
