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Home > Volcanic winter

A volcanic winter is the reduction in temperature caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid obscuring the sun, usually after a volcanic eruption (hence the name). The explosion of Krakatoa in 1883 precipitated just such a condition; the next four years were unusually cold, and the winter of 1888 was the first time it was warm enough to snow; snowfalls that year broke all records worldwide.

The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 occasioned mid-summer frosts in New York State in the " Year Without a Summer" of 1816. A paper written by Ben Franklin in 1783 blamed the unusually cool summer of that year on volcanic dust coming from Iceland.

A comparable episode happened earlier in the 6th century; see climate changes of 535-536.

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Topics: Volcanic Winter, Volcanic Explosivity Index, Volcanic Ash...

Volcanic Explosivity IndexThe Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) was devised by Chris Newhall of the U. Geological Survey and Steve Self at the University of Hawaii in 1982 to provide a relative measure of the explosiveness of volcanic eruptions. Volume of products, eruption cloud hVolcanic ashVolcanic ash is rock particles less than 0. 25 inch across ejected from a volcanic vent. The term for any material explosively thrown out from a vent is ejecta or pyroclastic debris. If liquid magma is ejected as a spray, the particles will solidify in thVolcanic coneVolcanic cones are among the simplest volcano formations. They are built by fragments (called ejecta thrown up (ejected) from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, d
Volcanic winterA volcanic winter is the reduction in temperature caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid obscuring the sun, usually after a volcanic eruption (hence the name). The explosion of Krakatoa in 1883 precipitated just such a condition; the next foVolcanic bombVolcanic bombs are globules of melted rock ( tephra) larger than 2 to 3 inches in diameter that are thrown into the air during a volcanic eruption, cooling into solid fragments before they reach the ground.Volcanic fieldA volcanic field is a spot of the earth's crust that is prone to localized volcanic activity. The San Francisco volcanic field in Arizona and the Auckland volcanic field in New Zealand are examples of this.
Volcanic arc  
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