La Soufriere Volcanic Eruptions Launched Gravity Waves Into Space

Atmospheric gravity waves can be excited by explosive volcanic eruptions and may reach Earth's upper atmosphere. In this study, we report on mesoscale concentric gravity waves observed in the mesopause airglow layer following the La Soufriere volcano eruption in April 2021. A large ash plume observed by the spaceborne Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer instrument on April 10 reached ∼20 km. Temporal evolution of the volcanic ash plume was provided by the GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager. Nightglow gravity waves were observed by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Day Night Band. These waves had horizontal wavelengths of ∼25–40 km, and took about a half-to-1 hr to travel from the tropopause to the mesopause. Some concentric ionospheric disturbance signatures are also seen in Global Navigation Satellite System-total electron content maps. We found the launch of gravity waves to be highly correlated with the elevated ash plume from explosive eruptions.