Xinhua News Agency, London, August 25th, British researchers recently published a paper in the British magazine Nature Communication, saying that climate change will make it more difficult to predict the cooling effect of volcanic eruptions on the earth, because the cooling effect of large volcanic eruptions will be enhanced, while the cooling effect of small and medium-sized volcanic eruptions will be weakened.

The picture shows that on June 9, 20 19, the Sinapeng volcano spewed a lot of volcanic ash in Karo County, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Anto Sembiring)

Volcanic eruption will bring a cooling effect to the earth in a certain period of time, because the particles ejected from the volcano will spread in the atmosphere and block the sun in a large area. For example, 199 1 year, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted, and then the global average temperature temporarily dropped by 0.5 degrees Celsius.

Researchers from Cambridge University and other institutions in the United Kingdom said in the paper that with global warming, the earth's atmosphere will change accordingly, and the particles ejected by large volcanoes will spread more easily in the stratosphere, and its cooling effect is expected to increase by 15%. On the other hand, the particles ejected from small and medium-sized volcanoes are more difficult to reach the stratosphere through the troposphere, and they will fall back to the ground faster, so it is expected that their cooling effect may be reduced by 75%.

Because the frequency of large-scale volcanic eruptions is low, and the frequency of small and medium-sized volcanic eruptions is relatively high, the researchers said that it is still difficult to judge the comprehensive impact of climate change on the cooling effect of volcanic eruptions. They will further collect data and analyze the changes in the global climate system that may be caused by various related factors.