Volcanic Eruptions: Impact on Climate and Human Life

Did you know that volcanic eruptions, although they are extremely hot, counteract climate change? Large volcanic eruptions, including the Tambora eruption in 1815 and the Krakatau eruption in 1883, create headlines across the world, ground planes, and can change weather patterns drastically for months, or even years, at a time. They spew out tons of various gases, volcanic ash-a pulverized form of rock, and other rock debris. Each volcano has a different composition, so each eruption has different effects. This means volcanoes can have a large impact on the weather and climate of a region. How do volcanic eruptions affect local weather, climate, and atmospheric conditions, and how do these factors affect humans?

First, eruptions can change weather patterns to create unusual storms and precipitation. For example, during the “year without summer” in 1816, following the Tambora volcano eruption in Indonesia, Southern Canada received snow in June (Oppenheimer, 2003). Weather like this is almost unheard of during the summer, and the decreased global temperature following the eruption caused snow to reach many places where we do not normally find it. Additionally, volcanic eruptions release tons of gaseous sulfur dioxide, which combines with water vapour, creating sulfuric acid, and then falls as acid precipitation (Williams, 2010). Acid Precipitation is not a natural form of healthy precipitation for the environment; it can be

They can affect the local weather of an area by creating unusual storms and precipitation, the climate of a region by changing the average temperature and precipitation levels dramatically, and have differing effects on the atmosphere, such as volcanic ash clouds and sulfuric acid build-ups, which produce vivid sunsets and fogs. Many people look to nature to solve life’s problems; do you think volcanoes could be nature’s solution to climate