How do volcanoes affect climate?
Sulfur-rich volcanic eruptions that eject material into the stratosphere can have significant effects upon climate. These effects generally consist of tropospheric cooling and stratospheric warming. The troposphere is the lowest level of the earth’s atmosphere, ranging from the Earth’s surface up to about 10-13 km, while the stratosphere is the part of the atmosphere between 13 and 50 km above the Earth’s surface. Volcanic aerosols have a lifetime of 1-3 yrs, so tropospheric cooling will occur over this time frame. The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines in 1991 caused a short-term global cooling of 0.5°C. Volcanic aerosols injected into the stratosphere can provide surfaces for ozone-destroying reactions. Therefore, large, sulfur-rich eruptions (e.g. Mount Pinatubo ) may result in decreased ozone concentration. Abundance of ozone may affect ultraviolet and longwave radiative fluxes, although no clear relationship between ozone abundance and global temperature has been
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