Climate model calculations of the effects of volcanoes on global climate. Status report, 1 December 1991-30 November 1992

Technical Report · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:6877988

Robock, A

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 percent 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.

• Research Organization: Maryland Univ., College Park, MD (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6877988
• Report Number(s): N-93-18600; NASA-CR--191999; NAS--1.26:191999; CNN: NAG5-1835
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540110
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
AEROSOLS
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
CLIMATIC CHANGE
COLLOIDS
COOLING
DISPERSIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH PLANET
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FLUIDS
GASES
GLOBAL ASPECTS
HEATING
METEOROLOGY
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
PLANETS
POLAR REGIONS
RADIATIONS
SOLAR RADIATION
SOLS
STELLAR RADIATION
STRATOSPHERE
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
TROPICAL REGIONS
VOLCANIC GASES
VOLCANOES
WIND