Volcanic Eruptions Cause Global Cooling: Man Made Pollution Has a Very Small Effect
Global temperatures over time are dependent on major volcanic eruptions and not on man made pollution as the global warming crowd claims. Volcanic eruptions have caused some heating, but the main effects have been global cooling.
There are many examples of global cooling, some of which are described in the following paragraphs. (Reference 1,2) Approximately 74,000 years ago there was an eruption of a volcano in Java named Toba. This eruption is described by volcanists as “Humongous.” The eruption killed almost all humans on earth at that time. This is not a theory but is well established by scientific data from different sources. They include geologists, geneticists, anthropologists, and others. (Reference 1,2)
We are a single species which we all are descended from and survived in east Africa. From there this migration has been traced first east, then north and east, and later west. Recently Science Daily, (May 10, 2007, reference 3) reports that new research DNA data shows that the Australian Aborigine people came from the same genetic background as the people who migrated out of east Africa. The same is true for the people of New Guinea.
The estimated eruption volume of the Toba eruption is fourteen cubic miles. This is based on evidence from a large number of sources. It is enormous compared to the pollution that the global warming crowd claims is doing so much damage. There is evidence that there were a number of years of global cooling with freezing or near freezing temperatures along the equator with lower temperatures at higher latitudes (Reference 1).
A number of volcanic eruptions have been related to global cooling. The Tambora eruption in Java in 1815 is an example of this. The year following this eruption was known as the year without a summer. In the United States’ Northeast there were snow storms and frost in June, July and August. Many people lost their lives in Java, perhaps as many as 10,000 directly and many more indirectly (Reference 1 pages 68 – 70).
Volcanic eruptions started in Iceland in 1783, continuing until 1784. These eruptions were along a line, approximately twenty-seven kilometers long. More than twenty-five percent of the population died from volcanic ash, poison gas and starvation.
Benjamin Franklin, at the time, represented the United States in France. He speculated that the eye stinging haze and cold winters of 1783 – 1784 were the result of the Iceland volcanoes. North America winters were especially cold to the extent that the Mississippi river froze at New Orleans. Ice cores from Greenland contained significant concentrations of sulfuric acid for the years of 1783 – 1784. Sulfuric acid is one gas contained in the eruption gases.
On April 5, 1815 the volcano Tambora in Indonesia erupted. This was the largest eruption in the last 10,000 years. An estimated thirty-six cubic miles of ash and pumice were ejected. In New England, 1816 was called “The year without summer.” In June 1816 the average temperature was seven degrees Fahrenheit below the preceding years for the entire period from 1780 to 1968.
In 1883 the island of Krakatau erupted causing a loss of life of 36,417 official recorded deaths to an estimated 120,000. The average global temperatures fell by as much as 1.2 degrees Celsius with unstable temperatures until 1888 (Reference 4).
It is very difficult to separate war, politics, and climate. Washington crossing the Delaware in December of 1776 encountered very cold weather with snow on the ground and below freezing conditions. This is evidence of a volcanic eruption somewhere on earth. There were volcanic eruptions in the Wudalianchi Field in Northeast China that took place in 1776. This may have caused the bad weather Washington encountered. In any case Washington’s victory appears to be greatly due to his crossing the Delaware under very difficult conditions (Reference 6). Currently we are experiencing much loss of liberty and freedom as a result of high taxes and more government regulations which are completely uncalled for.
More than 2,000 years ago the eruption of Mount Etna probably caused colder temperatures in Italy and led to famine in Rome and Egypt. Starting around 535 AD and continuing into 540 AD, there is evidence of extremely short summers and periods of extreme cold. This has been attributed to the eruption of Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia (Reference 1, pages 68 – 91).
Around 1630 BC Greek Island of Thera erupted and apparently caused the beginning of the end of the Minoan Civilization. Radio and carbon data indicated cold weather in the northern hemisphere including China. Tree ring data from various parts of the world set the time at 1628 BC. Recent studies indicate that the eruptions injected an estimated fifteen cubic miles of earth. The plume reached a height of eighteen to twenty-one miles (Reference 1).
Climate cooling in the northern hemisphere as indicated by the tree rings, from many locations, frost in July as reported from China, heavy rain in Egypt. There is even evidence that the myth of Atlantis actually occurred and was caused by the Thera Eruption, (Reference 6).
On March 17, 1963 the volcano Agung on Bali erupted explosively. The gases reached the stratosphere and the troposphere fell about eleven degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature in the northern hemisphere fell slightly. At the end of March and beginning of April, 1982, the Volcano El Chichon in southeast Mexico exploded vertically. There was a slight lowering of the temperature in the northern hemisphere of several tenths of a degree Fahrenheit.
There are a number of factors that appear to influence the climate both local and global. The size of the eruptions is perhaps the most profound on the global climate. The humongous eruption of Toba around 74,000 years ago wiped out almost all humans on earth. It is the largest in the last 100,000 years.
Volcanic eruptions occur somewhere on earth almost continuously (Reference 7). The larger ones contribute to global cooling. The smaller ones are not well understood but some appear to contribute to global cooling. This needs to be explored with honest research based on good data and not on computer models based of false assumptions. Computer models are valuable in research as long as the input data are well founded and the limitations are recognized.
Research to date has yielded much information on the details of the effects, however much more remains to be discovered. Small eruptions may cool the troposphere with only an insignificant cooling globally. Some eruptions cause short term heating and larger long term cooling; an example being the Iceland eruption of 1873 – 1874. The composition of the gases erupted makes a difference. The amount of sulfur dioxide is also important; the larger amount resulting in the larger global cooling. The direction of the eruption is significant. If it is mostly vertical the more likely it will spread globally as compared to lateral eruptions.
Governments and politicians can make a critical difference on the lives lost. The Mount Pelee eruption is perhaps the most misguided case. Authorities claim the volcano was extinct up to the last. Many thousands lost their lives needlessly (Reference 2, page 203). In the Iceland eruption of 1883 – 1884 the magma was stopped before it was able to destroy a much needed harbor by a major effort of water cooling (Reference 2, page 136).
Is a current global warming crowd giving us bad advice? Bad advice was given to the residence of Mount Pelee before the eruption causing the needless loss of life. In other words, are we going in the wrong direction mainly out of ignorance?