Winter warming from large volcanic eruptions
- Univ. of Maryland, College Park (United States)
An examination of the Northern Hemisphere winter surface temperature patterns after the 12 largest volcanic eruptions from 1883-1992 shows warming over Eurasia and North America and cooling over the Middle East which are significant at the 95% level. This pattern is found in the first winter after tropical eruptions, in the first or second winter after midlatitude eruptions, and in the second winter after high latitude eruptions. The effects are independent of the hemisphere of the volcanoes. An enhanced zonal wind driven by heating of the tropical stratosphere by the volcanic aerosols is responsible for the regions of warming, while the cooling is caused by blocking of incoming sunlight. 21 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.
- OSTI ID:
- 6830052
- Journal Information:
- Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (United States), Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (United States) Vol. 19:24; ISSN GPRLAJ; ISSN 0094-8276
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
AEROSOLS
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
CHALCOGENIDES
COLLOIDS
COOLING
DISPERSIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH PLANET
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
ERUPTION
FLUIDS
GASES
GLOBAL ASPECTS
HEATING
MIDDLE EAST
NORTH AMERICA
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANETS
RADIATIONS
SOLAR RADIATION
SOLS
STELLAR RADIATION
STRATOSPHERE
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
VARIATIONS
VOLCANIC GASES
VOLCANOES
WIND