Overview
- A Nature Communications study reports that a volcanic cloud from the 2022 Hunga Tonga eruption broke down methane.
- The ESA Sentinel-5P satellite’s TROPOMI instrument tracked a record formaldehyde plume that persisted for about ten days.
- Researchers estimate the eruption lofted roughly 300,000 tonnes of methane and that about 900 tonnes per day were oxidized in the cloud.
- The team links the breakdown to chlorine formed when seawater mixed with ash under sunlight, which then attacked methane and produced formaldehyde.
- Scientists stress the eruption’s unusual mix of seawater, ash, and low sulfur, and they say the result informs monitoring and cautious mitigation research.