Electric Discharge in Erupting Mud

Abstract

Self‐ignition during the explosive eruption of mud volcanoes can create flames that in some cases reach heights that exceed hundreds of meters. To study the controls on electrical discharge in natural mud, we performed laboratory experiments using a shock‐tube apparatus to simulate explosive eruptions of mud. We vary the water content of the mud and proportions of fine particles. We measure electric discharge within a Faraday cage and we use a high‐speed video camera to image the eruption of mud and some of the electric discharge events. We find that (a) decreasing the proportion of fine particles and (b) increasing water content each suppress the number and magnitude of electric discharge events. Experimentally observed mud volcano lightning occurs where particles exit from the vent and within the jet of erupting particles.

Far‐Field Groundwater Response to the Lamb Waves From the 2022 Hunga‐Tonga Volcano Eruption

“…The Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) volcano erupted on 15 January 2022 at approximately 04:15 UT after several days of increased geological activity (Pradipta et al., 2023; USGS, 2022). Previous studies have reported that the HTHH volcanic eruption caused multi‐layer linkage disturbances, including atmospheric disturbances, tsunamis, as well as anomalous variations in multiple physical quantities such as atmospheric pressure, temperature, ground and ionospheric electromagnetic fields (Briggs et al., 2022; D’Arcangelo et al., 2022; Podglajen et al., 2022; Poli & Shapiro, 2022; Rajesh et al., 2022; Springsklee et al., 2022; Wright et al., 2022). After the volcanic eruption, the generated Lamb waves propagated at the boundary of air and solid Earth, and traveled around the Earth several times (Amores et al., 2022; Lin et al., 2022; Omira et al., 2022; Otsuka, 2022).…”