Bali Volcano update: The Scientists Predict The Mount Agung Eruption Cause Global Cooling effects of the Global Temperature.

Author, Ekarini

For more info about Bali: Bali Travel Info

Photo: BBC

As we know, the mount Agung erupted on November 21, and It’s predicted an ongoing eruption. 

Since yesterday, the volcano was quiet after the last week eruptions.  The eruptions brought magma to the crater and ashes into the air on the Bali island. 

According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson, Scientists are not able to predict if or when Mount Agung will have a major eruption.

Photo: Bali Travel Info

If a major eruption occurs, there could be some dramatic effects on Earth’s climate, including global cooling periods that can last for months to a couple of years. When Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, it eventually caused a 0.1 to 0.2 of a degree Celsius drop in the global temperature.

 “A more significant eruption can have more of a wide range of impacts beyond Bali and the immediate parts of Indonesia,” said Leister “Whether that happens is pretty much just speculation at this point.”

According to the AccuWeather, three factors determine if a volcanic eruption will have a major effect on Earth’s climate: sulfur dioxide levels, location and eruption intensity.

1)      When a volcano erupts, it emits many different types of materials, including sulfur dioxide, which will sometimes pass into the stratosphere, according to Brian Toon, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

 Sulfur dioxide will transform into sulfate aerosols, which are minute particles suspended in the        atmosphere, according to NASA.

The sulfate aerosols block the sun’s energy and instead of passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, the energy will be reflected back out to space.

As a result, there is a decrease in the sun’s energy reaching the Earth’s surface, which causes a cooling effect on temperatures. The more sulfur dioxide that is emitted from a volcano, the more sunlight will be blocked out, thus resulting in a greater impact on the climate.

2)       The second factor determining impact on climate is the location of the volcano. Volcanic eruptions that take place closer to the equator will have a more significant impact on climate. At the equator, there is more sunlight to reflect, so sulfur aerosols will have a bigger impact.

3)      The last factor is the intensity of the eruption. The eruption must be strong enough that the cloud on top of the volcano passes through the troposphere and into the stratosphere, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The stratosphere, which is a layer of the atmosphere, is located at an altitude of 65,000 feet near the equator and as low as an altitude of 23,000 feet near the poles, according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).

The sulfur dioxide will stay in the stratosphere for long periods of time, causing the cooling to last for months, even up to a few years. In contrast, sulfur dioxide in the lower atmosphere would fall in just a few weeks.