Chaiten Eruption Unlikely to Influence Global Climate
On May 2nd, 2008 the Chaiten Volcano, located in southern Chile erupted, sending a cloud of ash high into the sky. Here is another collection of amazing pictures.
The first image below shows the total aerosols (ash and sulfates combined) that were put into the atmosphere by the eruption.
The second image below shows the part of the plume made up of just sulphur dioxide, which in some past eruptions, such as Pinatubo in 1991, ended up circling the globe and combined with water vapor to form a screen that shielded the earth's surface for more than a year. This ended up lowering the average global temperature by 0.5 degrees celsius.
The second image, according to NASA shows that the Chaiten eruption put out relatively little sulphur dioxide, as most of the aerosols in the plume were ash. Based on this information, NASA scientists conclude that the Chaiten eruption is unlikely to have an effect on global temperatures. As fellow forecaster Jim Andrews and myself mentioned in an earlier blog, the far south location of the eruption would also limit any influence on global climate. Most of the volcanoes that have greatly influenced global climate are located much closer to the equator.
General location of the eruption.
