To: RightOnTheLeftCoast
Actually, how much greenhouse gas is released in a major eruption, compared to human activities?
People seem to have a difficult time believing this but humans release 150 times more Carbon Dioxide into the air per year than volcanoes (ALL of them in the world combined) do.
Due to the large quantities of Sulfur aerosols injected into the atmosphere, the net effect of large volcanic eruptions is to COOL the earth, not warm it.
There hasn't been a large volcanic eruption since Pinatubo in 1991, which I suspect has contributed to some of the record warmth in recent years.
To: Strategerist
"There hasn't been a large volcanic eruption since Pinatubo in 1991, which I suspect has contributed to some of the record warmth in recent years." There is tree-ring data show pertubations after volcanos, I've seen these defined as cooling events. In fact, I thought all volcanoes caused some cooling. Am I wrong?
13 posted on
12/25/2005 8:07:54 PM PST by
blam
To: Strategerist
There hasn't been a large volcanic eruption since Pinatubo in 1991, which
I suspect has contributed to some of the record warmth in recent years.
I'm no volcanologist or climatologist...
but I think the general observation is that major volcanic eruptions
that eject lost of material high into the atmosphere actually
LOWER temperatures.
A few examples:
1. Tamboura (sp?) in Indonesia in the early 1800s contributed to
"The year without a summer" in which there was frost in most of
New England during summertime for a year (and lots of crops failure).
2. Pinatubo: I know I heard that it was credited with lowering temps.
And I personally, I know that for about two years after that eruption,
we had noticeable relief from the blistering heat of the previous couple
of summers.
3. Anakrakatoa: IIRC, there's decent proof that a major eruption of
the Krakatoa group in the 500s AD caused major cooling (and drought due
to decrease in rainfall and shift of rainfall areas). A book was
written on it and a decent PBS special aired on the topic (titled
something like "Cataclysm" or "Apocalypse").
I don't know if this holds for all volcanoes...but it does appear
that major eruptions can at least sometimes have a noticeable cooling effect.
17 posted on
12/25/2005 8:23:29 PM PST by
VOA
To: Strategerist
I inherited some ash from the Pinatubo eruption. The ash had been collected from the deck of a ship berthed in Subic Bay. When I joined the ship back in the US there was a bag of it left in my desk drawer.
The ash piled to a depth of about a foot. Sailors tried to wash it off the deck with fire hoses. Didn't work well, just made it wet & heavier with little flow of material.
I donated the bag of ash to Oregon State University when they provided me with info for a research I was doing on an olde ship wreck. Dumby, I forgot to keep some for my collection.
To: Strategerist
>>>"People seem to have a difficult time believing this but humans release 150 times more Carbon Dioxide into the air per year than volcanoes (ALL of them in the world combined) do"<<<
Could you site a source, (if you are the source, your credentials and the actual data)
Thanks in advance
TT
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