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), Vol. 19:24; ISSN 0094-8276
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
58 GEOSCIENCES
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
VARIATIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
VOLCANIC GASES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
VOLCANOES
ERUPTION
AEROSOLS
COOLING
GLOBAL ASPECTS
HEATING
MIDDLE EAST
NORTH AMERICA
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
SOLAR RADIATION
STRATOSPHERE
SULFUR DIOXIDE
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
WIND
CHALCOGENIDES
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
EARTH PLANET
FLUIDS
GASES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANETS
RADIATIONS
SOLS
STELLAR RADIATION
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR OXIDES
540120* - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
580000 - Geosciences