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Tonga Volcano's Powerful Eruptions - are ash clouds cooling the climate?

  • Writer: William Zhu
    William Zhu
  • Feb 10, 2022
  • 1 min read

The eruptions of tonga volcano's remind us of the impressive force nature can create. Even though not many of us have had the chance to experience this power, we can experience it through dormant ones. When my family visited the Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii, it was a stunning experience. The volcano looked like a hole in the ground during the day, however it basically lighted up the sky during the night. I since learned that ashes from powerful volcanic eruptions, like the one at Mount Pinatubo in Philippines, has cooled the earth for up to two years because the gases and dust particles can reflect and absorb solar radiation.

Satellite pictures below show how powerful the Tonga volcano's eruption can be. Unfortunately, according to the article from Space, this eruption would not cool the climate due to the little sulfur dioxide emission it had. I will continue to research in order to grasp a deeper understanding, but I still hope these ashes could cool down the Earth a bit to buy us some time to battle global warming.


 
 
 

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