Story perspectives

Tonga Eruption Plume Removes Methane, Sparks Climate Model Revisions

5/11/2026

Summary

Story summary

Scientists recorded a ten-day plume of record-high formaldehyde after the 2022 Tonga eruption, indicating continuous methane breakdown.
Dr. Maarten van Herpen, lead researcher, showed in Nature Communications that the ash and sea-salt plume chemically removed methane in the stratosphere, a process similar to Sahara dust-driven chlorine reactions that degrade methane under sunlight.
The discovery prompts revisions to global methane budgets and climate models to account for dust-induced removal.

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Story summary

Scientists recorded a ten-day plume of record-high formaldehyde after the 2022 Tonga eruption, indicating continuous methane breakdown.
Dr. Maarten van Herpen, lead researcher, showed in Nature Communications that the ash and sea-salt plume chemically removed methane in the stratosphere, a process similar to Sahara dust-driven chlorine reactions that degrade methane under sunlight.
The discovery prompts revisions to global methane budgets and climate models to account for dust-induced removal.