Ionospheric Lamb Waves With Conical Phase Fronts Following the 2022 Tonga Eruption Unveiled by BeiDou GEO Observations
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Prior observational uncertainties have hindered the clear understanding of the link between tropospheric Lamb waves and ionospheric disturbances. In this study, we precisely extracted ionospheric Lamb waves originating from the epicenter of the 15 January 2022 Tonga eruption, propagating upward in a conical structure. This was achieved by using line‐of‐sight observations from the BeiDou geostationary satellites, which eliminated the spatiotemporal ambiguity introduced by the relative motion of Global Positioning System satellites, enabling the clear extraction of the Lamb signal in the ionosphere. The observed L0 mode speed (∼323 m/s) and period (∼30 min) were consistent with those of the tropospheric Lamb wave. It suggested that the ionospheric Lamb wave is likely driven by the surface Lamb wave, leading to a conical wave‐front that extends in altitude. This study highlights the significant role of Lamb waves in transmitting energy from epicenters through Earth's atmosphere and plasma systems.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2025gl114976
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
Awards: Collaborative Research: ANSWERS: Impacts of Atmospheric Waves and Geomagnetic Disturbances on Quiet-time and Storm-time Space Weather, G4038457543, Scientific and Technical Discovery at the Millstone Hill Geospace Facility, G4614101457, G7275436811, G7631595905, G8388701338, Collaborative Research: CEDAR--Three-dimensional Large Electron Density Gradients at Mid-latitudes from a TEC-based Ionospheric Data Assimilation system (TIDAS), G8687263898
OpenAlex ID: W4410398702