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Journal ArticleDOI

The relationship between volcanic eruptions and climate change: Still a conundrum?

TLDR
A review of the various data bases used in evaluating volcanic events and associated climatic change can be found in this article, where the authors provide a brief historical overview of the problem and highlight some pitfalls involved in using available information, including the possibility of "volcanic winters, or severe eruption-induced coolings".
Abstract
What is the relationship between volcanic eruptions and climate change? More than 200 years after the connection was first proposed, it remains a thorny question. This article provides a brief historical overview of the problem and a review of the various data bases used in evaluating volcanic events and associated climatic change. We use the term “climate” to describe changes in the atmosphere over wide regions for periods of several months and longer. We use “weather” to describe shorter-term, variable atmospheric fluctuations experienced over more restricted areas. We appraise the present state of knowledge and highlight some pitfalls involved in using available information. Cautiously, we suggest future avenues for study, including the possibility of “volcanic winters,” or severe eruption-induced coolings.

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Radiative forcing and climate response

TL;DR: This paper examined the sensitivity of a climate model to a wide range of radiative forcings, including changes of solar irradiance, atmospheric CO2, O3, CFCs, clouds, aerosols, surface albedo, and a "ghost" forcing introduced at arbitrary heights, latitudes, longitudes, seasons, and times of day.
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Large igneous provinces: crustal structure, dimensions, and external consequences

TL;DR: In this article, the authors compile all known in situ LIPs younger than 250 Ma and analyze dimensions, crustal structures, ages, and emplacement rates of representatives of the three major LIP categories: Ontong Java and Kerguelen-Broken Ridge oceanic plateaus, North Atlantic volcanic passive margins, and Deccan and Columbia River continental flood basalts Crustal thickness ranges from 20 to 40 km, and the lower crust is characterized by high (70-76 km s?1) compressional wave velocities.
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Stratospheric aerosol optical depths, 1850–1990

TL;DR: A global stratospheric aerosol database employed for climate simulations is described in this article, where the authors estimate the optical depths from optical extinction data, whose quality increases with time over that period.
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Record of Volcanism Since 7000 B.C. from the GISP2 Greenland Ice Core and Implications for the Volcano-Climate System.

TL;DR: Sulfate concentrations from continuous biyearly sampling of the GISP2 Greenland ice core provide a record of potential climate-forcing volcanism since 7000 B.C. with sulfate deposition equal to or up to five times that of the largest known historical eruptions.
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Potential climate impact of Mount Pinatubo eruption

TL;DR: In this article, the GISS global-climate model is used to make a preliminary estimate of Mount Pinatubo's climate impact, assuming the aerosol optical depth is nearly twice as great as for the 1982 El Chichon eruption.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

The volcanic explosivity index (VEI) an estimate of explosive magnitude for historical volcanism

TL;DR: A composite estimate of the magnitude of past explosive eruptions, referred to as the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI), is proposed as a semiquantitative compromise between poor data and the need in various disciplines to evaluate the record of past volcanism as mentioned in this paper.
Book

Volcanoes of the World

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a Chronology of large-volume Holocene Eruptions Fatalities and Evacuations Preliminary List of Pleistocene Volcanoes Preliminary list of Large-Volume Pleistogenic Eruption Gazetteer References VOLCANO DATA Volcano Name Subregion Latitude and Longitude Elevation Population Rock Type Type (Morphology) Volcano Number Status ERUPTION DATA Area of Activity Dates: Start and Stop Uncertainties Dating Techniques Duration Eruptive Characteristics Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) Volume of Products (Vol
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Volcanic dust in the atmosphere; with a chronology and assessment of its meteorological significance

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine aspects of importance, or possible importance, to meteorology, such as the dust veils created in the atmosphere, particle sizes and distribution, heights, fall speeds and atmospheric residence times.
Journal ArticleDOI

Greenland ice sheet evidence of post-glacial volcanism and its climatic impact

TL;DR: This paper showed that clustered volcanic eruptions have a considerable cooling effect on climate, which further complicates climatic predictions, and used a temperature index to measure the cooling effect of volcanic activity.
Journal ArticleDOI

The Great Tambora Eruption in 1815 and Its Aftermath

TL;DR: Data and methods are used to reconstruct the course of events during and after the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Tambora, Indonesia, on 10 and 11 April 1815, the world's greatest ash eruption since the end of the last Ice Age.
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