[1] The problem of global warming arises from the buildup of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels and other human activities that change the composition of the atmosphere and alter outgoing longwave radiation (OLR). One geoengineering solution being proposed is to reduce the incoming sunshine by emulating a volcanic eruption. In between the incoming solar radiati...

Analysis of infrasonic pressure waves generated by active volcanoes is essential to the understanding of volcanic explosion dynamics. Unlike seismic waves propagating in the earth, infrasonic airwaves offer a relatively unfiltered representation of source motions at the vent during an eruption. Time-varying acoustic propagation filters caused by changeable atmospheric conditions are minimal for...

[1] Sulfate aerosols from the 1783–1784 A.D. Laki eruption are widely used as a reference horizon for constraining Greenland ice core time scales, yet the timing of the arrival of the sulfate remains under discussion. Two ice cores from western Greenland, analyzed with high temporal resolution, confirm that sulfate aerosols arrived over Greenland late in 1783, concomitant with the tephra, eleva...

nic gases exsolved from magmas (Symonds et al. 1994). Thus, Ionian volcanic gases exsolved from magmas during eruption may also chemically We use thermochemical equilibrium calculations to show equilibrate (see below). that SO is expected in volcanic gases erupted on Io, and derive We modeled volcanic gas chemistry on Io in the 1000–2000 K range the range of temperatures, pressures, and element...

[1] Northern temperate and high-latitude wetlands are a major source of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4). Here, we estimate the sensitivity in the strength of this source to the effects of large Icelandic volcanic eruptions such as the Laki eruption of 1783–1784. We applied spatially explicit modeled sulfate aerosol and S deposition fields from a Laki eruption simulation to a climate-sensitive ...

Volcanic aerosols from the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption greatly increased diffuse radiation worldwide for the following 2 years. We estimated that this increase in diffuse radiation alone enhanced noontime photosynthesis of a deciduous forest by 23% in 1992 and 8% in 1993 under cloudless conditions. This finding indicates that the aerosol-induced increase in diffuse radiation by the volcano enh...

The Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT) eruption, which occurred in Indonesia 74,000 years ago, is one of Earth's largest known volcanic events. The effect of the YTT eruption on existing populations of humans, and accordingly on the course of human evolution, is debated. Here we associate the YTT with archaeological assemblages at Jwalapuram, in the Jurreru River valley of southern India. Broad continuit...

The Health Protection Agency and Health Protection Scotland used existing syndromic surveillance systems to monitor community health in the UK following the volcanic eruption in Iceland in April 2010.

Miller's 1950s experiments used, besides the apparatus known in textbooks, one that generated a hot water mist in the spark flask, simulating a water vapor-rich volcanic eruption. We found the original extracts of this experiment in Miller's material and reanalyzed them. The volcanic apparatus produced a wider variety of amino acids than the classic one. Release of reduced gases in volcanic eru...

Volcanic eruptions are an important natural cause of climate change on many timescales. A new capability to predict the climatic response to a large tropical eruption for the succeeding 2 years will prove valuable to society. In addition, to detect and attribute anthropogenic influences on climate, including effects of greenhouse gases, aerosols, and ozone-depleting chemicals, it is crucial to ...