Strong Volcanic Activity And Links To Global Cold

[damianslaw]

We seem to have year after year of warmer than average global temps and I wonder whether another factor for this is the lack of volcanic activity in recent years (apart from iceland volcanic eruptions - incidentally these occured during a notably cool period in NW europe culminating in the record cold of december 2010), which I am led to believe in years gone by has contributed to anamolous global cold, most notably way back in 1816 I think the year of 'no summer'.

The last major volcanic eruption to affect global temps was I think back in 1991 - I think it was Mount Pinatabo - but don't quote me on this. The following year was a cold one globally.

1980 saw a major eruption of Mount St Helens and this had a knock on effect on global temps.

I just thought this is an interesting subject - and if anyone has any strong evidence of the effects of major volcanic activity on global temps it would be much appreciated if you can share your views.

[summersnow]

We seem to have year after year of warmer than average global temps and I wonder whether another factor for this is the lack of volcanic activity in recent years (apart from iceland volcanic eruptions - incidentally these occured during a notably cool period in NW europe culminating in the record cold of december 2010), which I am led to believe in years gone by has contributed to anamolous global cold, most notably way back in 1816 I think the year of 'no summer'.

The last major volcanic eruption to affect global temps was I think back in 1991 - I think it was Mount Pinatabo - but don't quote me on this. The following year was a cold one globally.

1980 saw a major eruption of Mount St Helens and this had a knock on effect on global temps.

I just thought this is an interesting subject - and if anyone has any strong evidence of the effects of major volcanic activity on global temps it would be much appreciated if you can share your views.

This is an interesting concept and I do believe there are several claims/ studies supporting this theory. However, two questions are raised immediately. 1, from what I understand, initial cooling induced by volcanic activity is followed by additional warming; and 2, mainstream climate science does (I am led to believe), factor in volcanic activity into computer modelling. In other words, both the late 20th Century warming and projected warming has taken account of volcanic activity (or lack of it)!

I personally believe this to be one of the less well understood areas of climate science, alongside a number of others. Professor Don J Easterbrook for example believes that a combination of solar activity, ocean cycles and volcanic activity all conspire to create the natural variability we see in Global climate. Far from subscribing completely to this, I do certainly believe there is a long way to go before we understand even a modest amount of the main climate drivers and how they affect variability - natural, anthroprogenic or both.

Edited March 9, 2012 by summersnow