How the Tonga Volcano Eruption will Cool the Earth

How the Tonga Volcano Eruption will Cool the Earth
Saturday January 15th at 5:15 pm local time a volcano on the island of Hunga Tonga erupted sending a 5 km wide cloud of ash 20 km into the atmosphere. Loud explosions could be heard on islands up to 65 km away. From space, the erupting column of smoke and even atmospheric shockwaves were captured propagating across the Pacific Ocean. The eruption started a magnitude 5.8 earthquake and a tsunami that reached as far as the United States. Although by the time it got there waves were limited to only about 4 feet. But the Tonga explosion will have far more reaching consequences than what’s happened in the immediate aftermath.

Preliminary observations showed that the eruption ejected a large amount of volcanic material into the stratosphere. Enough to cool the Earth, and at least temporarily, reverse man-made climate change in an event known as volcanic winter. Get ready for some extreme ice storms over the next few years, and if you live in Florida, you might want to buy your snow parkas now.

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[EverythingScience]

We worked hard to get this video out just a few days after the eruption. Let us know what you think of it!

[JamesSavik]

I wouldn't lose any sleep over this one. Due to its eruptive nature, It produced much more steam than ash. It exploded so powerfully because seawater found its way into the magma chamber.

[Caramelhorse]

One big problem with SO2 that is seemingly skipped over entirely is that it drops out of the stratosphere as acid rain. Not a great thing to be pumping into the air as a coolant.

[BonzerMrT]

Volcano’s are forever the scariest natural event to me. Mostly because of how much more it can cause damage afterwards. The shockwaves cause storms, tsunamis, earthquakes, geographic destruction on a country wide scale possibly even world wide depending on the mountains.

[GeneralGrizzy]

World literally said “fine, I’ll do it myself” for tackling global warming.

[KevinDC]

The main eruption happened somewhat submerged. So it actually acted like a water bong, filtering most of the ash.

[bravezelgius]

The eruption did not release enough SO2 in order to cause even half a degree of global cooling. This eruption wasn't even large enough to cause the amount of cooling you are claiming, let alone wasn't even larger than Pinatubo in the 90s. This was a phreatic eruption, meaning basically a massive steam explosion, which is why the ash cloud was mostly white indicating a large amount of water vapor. So while yes, the column was likely taller than Pinatubo, it did not release enough tephra or SO2 in order to cause global cooling on the scale you are claiming. Don't try and fear monger with misinformation, because a lot of the information you had in the video was correct, so your heart is in the right place just don't spread the misinformation.

[reginanightshade]

The scariest thing about this is that what we thought was sounds of thunder was actually the volcano

[emeraldcoasttactics]

The lightning bolt and the eruption at 5:07 was awesome to see.

[Wasteoil]

Humanity: we’re all going to die the earth is overheating
The earth: I got you fam

[TheOGDisco]

I live in Florida (Orlando) This Saturday, it is expected to drop down to below freezing for the first time in years.

[Godspeed_]

I love how everyone becomes a climate and volcano expert and speak like they were watching the volcano have a field day

[worldsgreatestdude]

It was an underwater eruption, which meant that there was a lot of water vapor, which caused the temperatures to warm up a little bit

[nothanks]

Considering how short the eruption was (roughly one hour), barring any follow-up blasts of equal or higher intensity, I doubt the eruption will have much affect on weather patterns outside the "immediate" affected zone. The short eruption time means less material was ejected into the atmosphere. Unlike say Pinatubo in 1991, which erupted multiple times over several days and injected much more ash material and gas into the atmosphere that went on to have a global cooling effect.

[khitai]

I remember the volcano in Iceland that kept erupting 10 years ago, winter was crazy cold

[amielawson]

If anyone researched climate shift they would know that this is a cycle that has been happening for all of time. Earth has increase in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, which cause the climate to shift and cool. After a cooling period, the climate starts to warm again, which leads to more earthquakes and volcanos and the cycle continues over and over.

[doejohn]

Tonga Volcano: Might cause an ice age

Floridians: You really think an ice age will stop us?

[lasmoans]

No it won't cause a ice age but it might lead to a slight cooling in the southern hemisphere almost immediately and 12 months later in the northern hemisphere

[rgret]

I live in the SF Bay Area of California. I about died when I got that tsunami warning, saying "be careful of 1-3' waves". All I could think was "you ever been to a beach? I don't think we get waves less than 3' in Cali".

[awordbyrmlloyd]

I've been seeing some huge cloud formations in what was supposed to be a drier than normal dry season so you may be right.