Volcanoes can muddle the greenhouse

Journal Article · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1990 · Earthquakes and Volcanoes; (USA)

OSTI ID:5609867

Kerr, R A

As scientists and politicians anxiously eye signs of global greenhouse warming, climatologists are finding the best evidence yet that a massive volcanic eruption can temporarily bring the temperature down a notch or two. Such a cooling could be enough to set the current global warming back more than a decade, confusing any efforts to link it to the greenhouse effect. By effectively eliminating some nonvolcanic climate changes from the record of the past 100 years, researchers have detected drops in global temperature of several tenths of a degree within 1 to 2 years of volcanic eruptions. Apparently, the debris spewed into the stratosphere blocked sunlight and caused the temperature drops. For all their potential social significance, the climate effects of volcanoes have been hard to detect. The problem has been in identifying a volcanic cooling among the nearly continuous climate warmings and coolings of a similar size that fill the record. The paper reviews how this was done.

• OSTI ID: 5609867
• Journal Information: Earthquakes and Volcanoes; (USA), Vol. 22:2; ISSN 0894-7163
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CLIMATES
CORRELATIONS
VOLCANOES
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
CALCULATION METHODS
CLIMATE MODELS
COOLING
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA PROCESSING
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
HEATING
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
OCEANOGRAPHY
PARTICULATES
SOLAR RADIATION
SOUTHERN OSCILLATION
STRATOSPHERE
VARIATIONS
WATER CURRENTS
CURRENTS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PARTICLES
PROCESSING
RADIATIONS
STELLAR RADIATION
540110*