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It is well known that volcanic eruptions alter the climate, but can man-made climate change alter volcanic eruptions? Oddly enough, the answer seems to be yes.
When the Philippine volcano of Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991, the resulting sulfuric acid haze suppressed global temperatures by 0.5 ° C for more than a year. Highly explosive eruptions like this are rare – they happen once or twice a century on average – but their cooling impact could be magnified by up to 15% as the world warms.
This is because the stratosphere (the second layer of Earth’s atmosphere) will be warmer and less stratified, which, according to research published in Nature Communications, will cause sulphate aerosols to spread more and more rapidly around the world, further blocking solar radiation.
Meanwhile, moderately explosive eruptions – like that of Taal Volcano in the Philippines in 2020 – which tend to occur once a year may see their cooling impact diminished by up to 75% in a warmer world.
This is because the height of the tropopause (the boundary between the first and second layers of the atmosphere) is expected to increase, making it less likely that small and medium volcanic plumes will reach the stratosphere, and more likely that aerosols will be quickly leached. of the lower atmosphere by rain and snow.
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