New Study Shows How Geologic Forces Significantly Affect Earth’s Climate

Yet another research study has concluded that geological forces appreciably affect the Earth’s climate and climate-related events as per Plate Climatology.

This study concludes that volcanic eruptions affect global climate by expulsing huge amounts of sulfur-rich volcanic ash and gases into the atmosphere (study here).

The researchers recommended that all current global climate models should be updated to include the climate effect of volcanism.

Major Volcanic Eruptions

Major volcanic eruptions throw out massive amounts of ash, CO2 gas, sulfur, and water vapor into the oceans and atmosphere. These emissions act to alter biological environments, physical environments, and our climate.

Tambora Eruption 1815

“The eruption injected a huge amount of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, which would have quickly spread across the world, oxidizing to form sulfate aerosols,” Schurer said. “These volcanic aerosols reduce net shortwave radiation causing widespread, long-lasting surface cooling. They also lead to a reduction in global rainfall, while wettening some dry regions and causing dynamic changes in the large-scale circulation of both ocean and atmosphere. The global temperature dropped between one and three degrees Celsius. It was the coldest year in at least the last 250 years, according to the study. Each season showed temperature anomalies, but the summer was the most drastic change, with the coldest recorded mean summer temperature for Europe between 1766 and 2000 (see here).

This summer cooling event was at its peak in 1816 and is referred to as the Year Without a Summer.

Krakatoa Eruption 1883

“The forceful eruption of Krakatoa, August 26-27^th, 1883, darkened the sky worldwide for years afterward. The final explosive eruption was heard 3,000 miles away, 20 million tons of sulfur released into the atmosphere; producing a volcanic winter, reducing worldwide temperatures by an average of 1.2 °C (2.2 °F) for five years. Weather patterns were chaotic for years, and temperatures did not return to normal until 1888. A unique climatic event was offered to science for their better understanding” (see here).

Tonga Eruption 2022

The January 2022 eruption of the ocean-floor Tonga volcano was a wake-up call for climate scientists advocating the climate change theory because this one eruption proved that ocean-floor volcanic eruptions have a far greater influence on climate than is currently portrayed.

“In January 2022, the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai undersea volcano erupted with such force it sent massive amounts of ash, gas, and water into the atmosphere. Unlike other large eruptions, the blast sent massive amounts of water (146 million metric tons) into the atmosphere, which has a warming effect. Because the blast was so powerful, much of that water made its way all the way up to the stratosphere, which means it will take many years for it to fall back to Earth. In this new effort, the researchers used radiative transfer models to estimate the global temperature impact of blasting all that water into the stratosphere. They found a warming effect of 0.12 Watts per square meter, shortly after the blast. They then used the data from the model as input to a standard climate model to make estimations regarding likely average global temperature increases over the 10 years following the eruption” (see here)

Volcanic Activity

Climate scientists contend that the climate effect of major volcanic eruptions are blips in the radar and therefore cannot be the cause of the consistent changes in climate through time.

This contention is incorrect because ongoing emissions from unrecognized non-major volcanic eruptions on our ocean floors and supposedly dormant/quiet phase land volcanoes emit more CO2, methane, and sulfur gas than are given credit.

Their cumulative, continuous, and significant effect on the climate is far greater than that of major volcanic eruptions. This significant climate effect of this ongoing non-major volcanic activity infills the time gaps between major volcanic eruptions.

Ocean Floor Volcanic Activity

Oceans cover 71% of our planet. By the latest estimates, there are more than one million geological features such as hydrothermal vents, volcanoes, and lava flow flows. My analysis shows that approximately one-half of these features are volcanically active.

Earth’s ocean floors are home to 60,000 miles of giant ocean floor fault systems. These giant fault systems move entire continents as much as one inch per year.

Large segments of these faults are volcanically active and provide open pathways for deep inner pockets of molten lava that are rich in gases and minerals to move upward to the Earth’s ocean floors and eventually into the atmosphere.

Land Volcanic Activity

Dormant/Quiet phases of land volcanoes and lava flows have a far greater impact on Global Climate than given credit.

“Volcanoes draw plenty of attention when they erupt. But new research shows that volcanoes leak a surprisingly high amount of their atmosphere- and climate-changing gases in their quiet phases. A Greenland ice core shows that volcanoes quietly release at least three times as much sulfur into the Arctic atmosphere than estimated by current climate models” (see here)

“Volcanoes are a key natural source of CO2, but global estimates of volcanic CO2 flux are predominantly based on measurements from a fraction of the world’s actively degassing volcanoes. We combine high-precision airborne measurements from 2016 and 2017 with atmospheric dispersion modeling to quantify CO2 emissions from Katla, a major subglacial volcanic caldera in Iceland that last erupted 100 years ago but has been undergoing significant unrest in recent decades. Katla’s sustained CO2 flux, 12–24 kt/d, is up to an order of magnitude greater than previous estimates of total CO2 release from Iceland’s natural sources. Katla is one of the largest volcanic sources of CO2 on the planet, contributing up to 4% of global emissions from nonerupting volcanoes. Further measurements on subglacial volcanoes worldwide are urgently required to establish if Katla is exceptional, or if there is a significant previously unrecognized contribution to global CO2 emissions from natural sources”. (see here)

Summary

The premise of the Plate Climatology Theory is that geological activity, either locally or globally, acts to release heated and chemically charged fluids from various types of geological features into the ocean and atmosphere.

Throughout history and into the present, these emissions have acted to influence and, in many cases, completely control climate and climate-related events. This new study provides further proof of the Plate Climatology Theory.

James Edward Kamis is a retired Geologist with a B.S. in geology from Northern Illinois University and an M.S. in geology from Idaho State University who has always been fascinated by the connection between Geology and Climate. More than forty-four years of research have convinced him that geological forces significantly influence the Earth’s biological environments, physical environments, climate, and climate-related events as per his Plate Climatology Theory. In some cases, geological forces completely control climate and climate-related events.