Natural Processes and the Ozone Levels in the Stratosphere

One of the biggest tectonic events that has an effect on the earth climate is volcanic activity.

The Earth has been experiencing a considerable amount of climate change for the last several decades. Natural factors that contribute to the climate system consist of: solar output, volcanic activity and earth’s orbit around the sun. The two factors relevant on timescales of contemporary climate exist in volcanic activity and changes in solar radiation. The earth’s energy balance primarily influences the amount of incoming energy from volcanic eruptions, which have a relatively short-term effect on climate. Changes in solar output have contributed greatly to climate trends over the past century. The effect of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been at least ten times that of changes in the Sun’s output and the ocean covers more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface, receiving twice the amount of earth’s radiation. Although the sun is the engine that drives all the weather, oceans and atmosphere control the sun 's energy along certain

Volcanic eruptions not only give burning lava to the environment but the eruptions also release sulfur into the air (Mattox). This may sound familiar as coal burning power plants

Volcanoes are in fact important because without volcanoes the atmosphere wouldn’t have its oxygen rich properties. Many of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was swarm with rock-forming minerals of the earth 's crust. During earlier volcanic eruptions many gasses enters into the earth atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, water vapor and many other gases

Did you know that with all this talk about global warming, and the disappearing of the ozone layer, the root of the problem is us? Yes, we’re the cause of all those problems. We keep putting something called greenhouse gases into the air. A few greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane. While some climate change is natural, humans need to be careful about greenhouse gases because ecosystems are changing, sea levels are rising, and global average temperature increased by more than 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century.

In the article “The volcano-climate connection” by Jack Williams the author states “Scientists now know that these volcanoes, especially Tambora- the largest volcanic eruption of the last 10000 years- had spewed large amounts of sulfur dioxide into the air, which combined with water vapor to create a sulfuric acid mist of tiny particles that blocked up to 1or 2 percent of the solar energy that normally reaches the earth for months following the eruption.” The sulfuric acid mix that entered the air reflected some of the sunlight back into the atmosphere which caused unusually low temperatures in some parts of the world. The change in global weather patterns also had a large effect on agriculture causing

Vast volcanic eruptions split Rodinia apart, melted snowball earth, and put CO2 in the air causing the greenhouse effect.

Annotated Bibliography Capra, L. (2006). Abrupt climatic changes as triggering mechanisms of massive volcanic collapses. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 155(3), 329-333. This article explains how volcanic collapse can affect the climate.

There are quite a few gases that are responsible for the warming of the earth’s climate. The list mostly includes gases like water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and ozone (Cause and Effect…). The way water vapor affects the climate is by keeping the air moist. When the air is moist it keeps the heat from escaping out to space, forcing the heat to stay in our atmosphere.

The pollution in the air from the volcanic eruption was noted to have affected the radiation transfer in the atmosphere. Lamb 1970, found that there was a decrease in direct solar radiation and an increase in diffusion in the year following an eruption, and if the dust veil was large there may also be a lowering of surface temperatures. (Lamb 1970)

Global warming is caused by several things. One of these is the release of carbon dioxide into the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by using energy generated from burning fossil fuels.

There are many variables within the climate change equation that must be taken into account to determine what is truly causing the climate change. Yet, recently, it has been observed that in years following a volcanic eruption the global temperature has been a couple of degrees cooler, and there has been increased precipitation. "The amount and global extent of cooling depend on the force of the eruption, the amount of particular gases emitted, and, perhaps, on the location of the volcano with respect to the world's global atmospheric circulation patterns." (NASA Homepage) The argument that volcanic eruptions cause the climate change is as follows: volcanic eruptions eject sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, and the resulting stratospheric aerosols change the short and long wave radiation budget of the atmosphere. This causes a chain reaction in which the stratosphere cools off. (Welcome to MTU Geology Department) The diagrams below illustrate the many variables involved in a volcanic eruption.

How volcanoes affect people and environments? A volcano is a mountain or hill having a crater or vent through which lava, rock fragments, hot vapor, and gas are in. Volcanoes can change the weather. They can cause rain, thunder and lightning. Volcanoes can also have long-term effects on the climate, making the world cooler.

Scientists all over the world have been widely researching to find out ways in which the ozone layer is being destroyed through human actions. The ozone layer is gradually being destroyed by ozone depleting chemicals. These chemicals include chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydroflourocarbons (HFCs), methyl bromide, halons, methyl chloroform and carbon tetrachloride among others (Ryding 173). These chemicals are used locally in coolants, fire extinguishers, solvents, pesticides, aerosol propellants and foaming agents.

Many of us might not understand how important the ozone layer is to our planet. So that is why we should take more care of our environment so we don’t deplete our ozone layer even more. To some this topic may not be important and they don’t understand what affects these dangerous chemicals can have on our environment. Hopefully reading this they will want to take better care of our planet for our future generations.