Name: K G Bard
Status: Other
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
How do volcanoes affect the climate both on a local level and on a
global level? How do they affect temperature, rainfall, and pollution? What
kinds of gases and particles are emitted and what how do they affect life
around the volcano?
Replies:
Volcanoes release carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and other gas
molecules. Poisonous clouds of gas will suffocate a person caught in them as
they rush down the volcano side. The sulfur dioxide gets thrown high into the
stratosphere (where jet planes fly) along with dirt particles. The sulfur
dioxide gets converted to sulfate particles. These particles reflect sunlight
back to space which cools Earth's climate. The recent eruption in the
Philippines cooled the Earth by about one degree F and may have been
responsible for the cool summer of 1992. The particles spread all around the
world so the effect is fairly uniform. They also scatter sunlight leading to
spectacular red sunsets. Volcano particles may lead to more clouds, and thus
rain, around a volcano but I am not sure about this.
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