Seismic record of a long duration dispersive signal after the 15 January 2022 Hunga-Tonga eruption

Abstract

Data acquired by broadband seismic stations distributed around the world are used to document the exceptionally long duration signal from the tsunami-associated gravity wave that followed the January 2022 Hunga-Tonga eruption. The first arrivals of this wave, with a frequency of around 2 mHz, are recorded at the time the tsunami arrives to each station, but the highest recorded frequencies, which reach 40 mHz, arrive 5 days later at some sites, following the prediction of a gravity wave originating at the Hunga-Tonga region and traveling in deep water. This dispersive signal is detected in most of the stations located in the Pacific Ocean basin and its coasts, but also in the Indian Ocean, Antarctica, and some stations in North America located hundreds of kilometers from the coastline. The signal is compared with the data gathered after earthquakes that have produced large tsunamis, showing that the seismic records from the Hunga-Tonga eruption are very different. Following the hypothesis pointed out by Omira et al 2023, we propose that the origin of this exceptional characteristic is due to the interaction between the tsunami and atmospheric waves that travel a little faster.