Go Back
  • For Business
  • |
  • Warnings
  • Data Suite
  • Forensics
  • Advertising
  • Superior Accuracy™
Flash floods kill 2 in New Jersey, strand subway riders in NYC Chevron right
Tropical rainstorm soaks Florida, could strengthen in Gulf before targeting Louisiana Chevron right

Columbus, OH

90°F
Location Chevron down
Location News Videos
Use Current Location
Recent

Columbus

Ohio

90°
No results found.
Try searching for a city, zip code or point of interest.
settings
Columbus, OH Weather
Today WinterCast Local {stormName} Tracker Hourly Daily Radar MinuteCast Monthly Air Quality Health & Activities

Around the Globe

Hurricane Tracker

Severe Weather

Radar & Maps

News

News & Features

Astronomy

Business

Climate

Health

Recreation

Sports

Travel

For Business

Warnings

Data Suite

Forensics

Advertising

Superior Accuracy™

Video

Winter Center

AccuWeather Early Hurricane Center Top Stories Trending Today Astronomy Heat Climate Health Recreation In Memoriam Case Studies Blogs & Webinars
Air Quality Alert

News / Weather News

How massive volcano eruptions can alter global temperatures

By Chaffin Mitchell, AccuWeather staff writer

Copied

Volcanic eruptions can influence climate and global temperature because of the gases and dust particles spewed into the atmosphere during the eruption.

Volcanic eruptions actually cool the planet because the particles ejected from volcanoes shade incoming solar radiation. The cooling effect can last for months to years depending on the scale of the eruption.

"Large volcanic eruption columns can inject ash particles and sulfur-rich gases into the troposphere and stratosphere and these clouds can circle the globe within weeks of the volcanic activity," said Dr. Howard Diamond, manager of the Climate Science Program at NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory.

The small ash and aerosol particles decrease the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth and lower average global temperatures.

Philippines Volcano

Mayon volcano spews ash anew during its mild eruption as seen in Legazpi city, Albay province, southeast of Manila, Philippines Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

According to the Center for Science Education, volcanoes have also caused global warming over millions of years when extreme amounts of eruptions occurred, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

"However, not every volcanic eruption results in a global impact. In order for a volcanic eruption to cause global effects, it really needs to be a very significant eruption which not only outputs a significant amount [of] material, but is also injected very high into the stratosphere," Diamond said.

Diamond said the last significant event of this kind was the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991.

VOLCANO ERUPTION MOUNT PINATUBO

A Philippine flag flies over the gate to U.S.-run Clark Air Force Base in Angeles City, Philippines, Wednesday, June 12, 1991, as a cloud of volcanic ash from the erupting Mount Pinatubo looms in the distance. (AP Photo/Danny Perez)

"Eruption columns reached 40 kilometers in altitude and placed a giant umbrella cloud in the middle to lower stratosphere that injected about 17 megatons of sulfur dioxide (SO2), slightly more than twice the amount yielded by the 1982 eruption of El Chichón, Mexico. The SO2 formed sulfate aerosols that produced the largest perturbation to the stratospheric aerosol layer since the eruption of Krakatau [a volcanic island] in 1883," Diamond said.

Other more minor volcanic eruptions may have more localized and shorter-term effects but for truly global long-term impacts on temperature, the volcanic eruption has to be quite significant.

"The aerosol cloud spread rapidly around the Earth in about three weeks and attained global coverage by about one year after the eruption. The large aerosol cloud caused dramatic decreases in the amount of net radiation reaching the Earth's surface, producing a climate-forcing effect of cooling that was two times stronger than the aerosols of El Chichón," Diamond said.

Effects on climate were an observed surface cooling in the Northern Hemisphere of up to 0.5-0.6 degrees Celsius, and a cooling of perhaps as large as minus 0.4 degrees Celsius over large parts of the Earth from 1992 to 1993, Diamond said.

temp_1940-2016_witheruptions_620.png

Global surface temperatures since 1940 compared to the 1981-2010 average (dotted line). Three tropical volcanoes had climate-cooling eruptions in the second half of the twentieth century: Indonesia's Mt. Agung in 1963, Mexico's El Chichón in 1982, and the Philippines' Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. NOAA Climate.gov graph, based on data from NCEI.

"Climate models appear to have predicted the cooling with a reasonable degree of accuracy," Diamond said.

As a result of the presence of the aerosol particles, the Southern Hemisphere "ozone hole" increased in 1992 to an unprecedented size, and ozone depletion rates were observed to be faster than ever before recorded. Diamond said the atmospheric impact of the Pinatubo eruption has been profound, and it has sparked a lively interest in the role that volcanic aerosols play in climate change.

"This event has shown that a powerful eruption providing a 15 to 20 megaton release of SO2 into the stratosphere can produce sufficient aerosols to offset the present global warming trends..." Diamond said.

According to Diamond, there is no real way to counter the effects of a volcanic eruption.

"The idea of what a volcano's possible effects on the climate and temperatures [are] has led to a fairly controversial area of study known as geoengineering, in which aerosols are injected into the atmosphere, similar to what a volcano does, to counter the effects of global warming caused by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane," Diamond said.

Aerosols would reflect sunlight to outer space, as well as scatter sunlight to Earth, reducing direct sunlight.

RELATED:

How volcanic ash jeopardizes an airplane’s flight
Why volcanic ash can be so detrimental to your health

Large, violent eruptions may match the rate of human emissions while they last, but they are too rare to rival humanity’s annual emissions, according to NOAA. Human activities emit 60 or more times the amount of carbon dioxide released by volcanoes each year.

Report a Typo

Weather News

Weather News

Inside the grueling recovery effort after Texas’ deadly flood

Jul. 15, 2025
Severe Weather

Flash flooding swamps Northeast metro areas as extreme rain threatens ...

Jul. 15, 2025
Weather Forecasts

Flood-weary Texas finally drying out, but near 100-degree heat looms

Jul. 15, 2025
Weather News

The Deadliest Floods in Texas History: A State at Risk

Jul. 14, 2025
video

Before-and-after pictures show devastation caused by Texas floods

Jul. 9, 2025
Severe Weather

Severe weather to rumble in the central US through the holiday weekend

Jul. 6, 2025
Weather News

Record sargassum seaweed piles up on Caribbean islands, Gulf

Jul. 2, 2025
Weather News

Alabama teen in ICU after lightning strike hits boat, causing burns an...

Jul. 2, 2025
Show more Show less Chevron down

Topics

AccuWeather Early

Hurricane Center

Top Stories

Trending Today

Astronomy

Heat

Climate

Health

Recreation

In Memoriam

Case Studies

Blogs & Webinars

Top Stories

Weather News

Inside the grueling recovery effort after Texas’ deadly flood

3 hours ago

Weather Forecasts

Flood-weary Texas finally drying out, but near 100-degree heat looms

24 minutes ago

Hurricane

Tropical Rainstorm to drench Florida, Gulf Coast

31 minutes ago

Weather News

Grand Canyon fires force closures

10 hours ago

Weather Forecasts

Flash flood dangers far from over as storms reload across US

48 minutes ago

More Stories

Featured Stories

Astronomy

Noctilucent clouds shimmer in summer sky

1 day ago

Recreation

Yellowstone’s landscape shifts again with discovery of new hot pool

1 day ago

Weather News

Orcas are bringing humans gifts of food – but why?

4 days ago

Weather News

Giant shoes found spark mystery around the soldiers of ancient Rome

1 day ago

Weather News

It’s not just humans – chimpanzees also like to follow trends

1 day ago

AccuWeather Weather News How massive volcano eruptions can alter global temperatures
Company
Proven Superior Accuracy About AccuWeather Digital Advertising Careers Press Contact Us
Products & Services
For Business For Partners For Advertising AccuWeather APIs AccuWeather Connect RealFeel® and RealFeel Shade™ Personal Weather Stations
Apps & Downloads
iPhone App Android App See all Apps & Downloads
Subscription Services
AccuWeather Premium AccuWeather Professional
More
AccuWeather Ready Business Health Hurricane Leisure and Recreation Severe Weather Space and Astronomy Sports Travel Weather News Winter Center
Company
Proven Superior Accuracy About AccuWeather Digital Advertising Careers Press Contact Us
Products & Services
For Business For Partners For Advertising AccuWeather APIs AccuWeather Connect RealFeel® and RealFeel Shade™ Personal Weather Stations
Apps & Downloads
iPhone App Android App See all Apps & Downloads
Subscription Services
AccuWeather Premium AccuWeather Professional
More
AccuWeather Ready Business Health Hurricane Leisure and Recreation Severe Weather Space and Astronomy Sports Travel Weather News Winter Center
© 2025 AccuWeather, Inc. "AccuWeather" and sun design are registered trademarks of AccuWeather, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | About Your Privacy Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

...

...

...