Volcanic Eruptions Can Delay The Climate Change -- Study

First Posted: Nov 21, 2016 04:40 AM EST

As many people can feel the effects of climate change, more scientists are alarmed and research on how to defeat the phenomenon. A new study reveals that volcanic eruption can give coolness to the Earth.

Researchers from the University of Britsh Columbia have conducted a study and published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmosphere. The experts revealed that the climate change is causing the lower layers of the atmosphere to expand. It results to the delaying of the capability of aerosol, making sulfur to rise into the stratosphere, which is where the layer of aerosol reflects the sunlight and heat that keeps the Earth cool.

In the study, the researchers found that the volcanic eruption has sulfur among the other gasses and this sulfur rises, going into the atmosphere until it reaches the stratosphere. Once established up there, the sulfur particles form an aerosol and linger there for a couple of years, according to Top Examiner.

During these years, the aerosol actively reflects the sunlight and heat from the Sun. It then helps the planet Earth to cool down. It has been estimated that every year, volcanic eruptions are three to five times.

According to the computer-based models on climate scenarios that were conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, by the end of this century, some of the volcanic plumes caused by the large eruptions at the tropical regions will not be able to thrust high enough to trigger the cooling effect.

Thomas Aubry, a Ph.D. student, said that "Volcanic eruptions also release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and that can have a warming effect but on a 100 million-year time scale. That effect is negligible compared with the cooling effect of sulfur gasses."

According to the report by the Ottawa Citizen, Aubry further said that "I hope that the Paris Agreement (to reduce greenhouse gas emissions) will change things and that the United States won't exit. Even then it's very uncertain what will happen with CO2 emissions."