Topic Guide: Volcanoes and Climate

 

In this activity you will form groups, conduct research into volcanoes and climate, and report back to your lab section in the form of a presentation. At the end of this activity you will find suggestions for the format of the presentation. You will use the data you investigate as evidence for your statements. Please use these suggestions and the “How to make a class presentation” (Resource 1) as guidelines for your presentation.

 

Overview:

In the early 1990’s, climate scientists, during the raging debate about whether global warming was caused by anthropogenic (from humans) CO₂ emissions, climate scientists predicted an even warmer year than the last one. However, the temperature dropped, weakening their arguments and sending them back to do more research. It turned out that a large volcano (Mt. Pinatubo)  erupted during 1991, which seriously affected the greenhouse effect. There are many historical cases of volcanic eruptions changing the weather. In 1815 the eruption of Tambora volcano in Indonesia caused the 1816 “ year without summer” in New England, Canada and Western Europe.

 

Key processes and concepts to review before beginning:

• Global atmospheric circulation patterns
• Earth’s energy balance
• Greenhouse effect
• Read "The Coming Climate" in the lab 4 text.

Tools:

• World Wide Web

 

After completing this investigation you should be able to:

 

You can go straight into exploring the data, but if you need more background information about paleoclimate, please review the websites that provide background information (found after the data section).

 

Data and Background:

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/VolcWeather/description_volcanoes_and_weather.html

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Gases/average.html

What are the major gases that are released in a volcanic eruption?

 

Common gases                                                       Less common gases

. . . . . . .

 

Do you recognize any of these as being greenhouse gases? Which ones?

 

Where do these gases come from (what is their source)?

 

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Gases/climate.html

How do aerosols expelled into the stratosphere by volcanic eruptions act to cool the Earth?

 

What is the major aerosol that acts to cool the Earth? How does this occur?

 

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Gases/ozone.html

Do volcanic eruptions affect the concentration of ozone in the stratosphere? If so, when and how?

 

Is the gas sulfur dioxide (SO2) involved in this reaction with ozone, or is another aerosol that affects ozone?

 

 

This site lists some of the important volcanic eruptions that have caused changes to the Earth’s climate. Click on the Ice Core Timeline, and a second, smaller window will open. Click on the Volcanic Activity 73,000 BP (below the “Volcanic Activity” label) and information about Toba will come up.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/warnings/stories/

To learn more about Toba, open this website and find “Toba.”

http://volcano.und.edu/

 

How many degrees do scientists believe the Toba caldera eruption caused the Earth's global climate to cool?

 

 

What is the best evidence available for studying how past volcanic eruptions have affected global climate?

 

 

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Gases/remote.html

What are some of the remote sensing methods used for measuring volcanic gases erupted from present day active volcanoes?

 

Be sure to look at the TOMS image of the Mt. Pinatubo SO2 plume two days after the June 15th eruption (http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Gases/remote.html).

 

If the red dot marks the location of Mt. Pinatubo, what can you say about the aerosol cloud?

 

What would you guess is the general wind direction for that time and latitude?

 

 

More Background information:

Please take some time to learn more about the background information available for the topic of volcanoes and climate. If you learn something new and interesting, please share it with the lab in your presentation.

http://www.egs.uct.ac.za/csag/faq/NASA_FACTS/volcanoes/volcano.html

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/VolcWeather/description_volcanoes_and_weather.html

 

 

Presentation Framework

Your presentation should include a brief overview explaining the significance of volcanoes and climate. You should then choose as many of the following topics as is necessary to explain the concept. Choose topics that you think might be relevant to understanding climate change. Your presentation should include interesting findings from your investigations, backed up with data. You must use the climate data in your presentation.

 

You may choose from the following list of topics, or investigate a topic of your own. The topics in the list are examples of investigations that could be made using the data available at the URL’s listed above.

 

Data driven topics:  

 

Overview type topics: