Do volcanoes increase the severity of global warming?

Question

Do volcanoes increase the severity of global warming?

Answer 1

they do becasue its all heat vapor and smoke co2 that goes into the air as well as other gases

Answer 2

No. Infact, its te opposite. Teh kind o fdust an ash released into the atmosphere by a major eruption will actually cool te Earth a bit by blocking sunlight.  It's a short term effect, though--the dust and ash settles out of the air after a few months--a year or two at most.

Answer 3

Yes they do. They produces Carbon Dioxide and causes Global  Warming

Answer 4

Volcanoes tend to have a cooling effect on the planet.

First, a note on definitions:  The energy that warms our Earth comes almost entirely from the Sun. Different mechanisms of the planet and the atmosphere affect how this energy is absorbed or reflect back into space. The radiation balance between absorbed and radiated energy determines the average global temperature (and regional temperatures as well).  The radiation balance can be positive or negative.  A positive radiative forcing  tends to warm the system through the absorption of energy by various gases, oceans, and land masses.  A negative radiative forcing cools the environment by reflecting energy back into space.  

Volcanic eruptions have the ability to affect global climate through the release of ash, and gasses.[1]  The most significant gas is sulfur dioxide (SO2).  Atmospheric SO2 converts to sulfur aerosols in the atmosphere.  Ash and sulfur aerosols tend have a negative radiative forcing by reflecting solar radiation back into space.  It appears that these aerosols also have a minor greenhouse gas effect, but the net affect is a negative radiative forcing.

For example, the large eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 had a global cooling effect for the following few years:

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs...

Volcanoes also emit greenhouse gasses such as CO2, but the amount of these greenhouse gasses pales in comparison to to greenhouse gasses from anthropogenic (human) sources.[2]

Answer 5

An eruption from a volcano causes much air pollution so it does contribute to global warming.

Answer 6

Not on the scale that they're erupting today. They have a short term cooling based on sulfate aerosols and particulate matter, then a small heating component based on the CO2.  Forward predictions include assuming volcanos erupting at certain times (then require corrections to place the actual volcanic events at the actual times).

On the greenhouse gas cooling end however, human emissions currently dwarf volcanic emissions 100:1.  

The situation was different when the massive Siberian Traps volcanoes erupted for several hundred thousand years, contributing to the Permian-Triassic Extinction.  So technically they could over time, but they haven't lately.

DENIER MYTH #20: Volcanoes emit more CO2 in a single eruption (or per year) than humanity does, dwarfing anthropogenic emissions (source: comment below by BobCook)

Debunking: Volcanoes emit a lot of gases, including significant amounts of CO2. Unfortunately, according to papers from back in the late 1990s, “Volcanoes contribute about 110 million tons of carbon dioxide per year while man’s activities contribute about 10 billion tons per year.” This means that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are 100x greater than volcanic CO2 emissions. In addition, as mentioned above in myth #18, volcanoes generally cause global cooling through the emissions of cloud-forming sulfur dioxide and water-cycle feedback. Finally, the USGS says “The most significant impacts from these injections come from the conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid (H2SO4), which condenses rapidly in the stratosphere to form fine sulfate aerosols”

Note that even the argument that volcanic CO2 emissions are leading to greenhouse gas warming is an admission that greenhouse gas warming is occurring.  Nice of the skpetics to start agreeing on the warming that is occurring, and on  the underlying process involved.

Answer 7

No, scientists say the sulfer is actually helping!

Live. Laugh. Love. -Cutie

Answer 8

Great to see someone actually looking at this objectively.

I think that Volcanoes do have a natural effect on our climate.

I have found that Climate Change is a more appropriate name.

We are only in Global Warming during the Warming cycle, then we enter the Global Cooling scare during the Cooling cycle etc...etc....

There is a very good story on volcanos on the ocean floor.

The climate change is earths natural warming and cooling cycles. We came out of a cooling cycle a couple hundred years ago. We will be starting a cooling cycle sometime in the future. THESE CHANGES ARE NOT DRASTIC by the way.

These are some new headlines currently in the news:

Russian Scientist says A Cold Spell is coming. R.A.N.S. shows that a fairly cold spell will set in quite soon, by 2012, but real cold will come when solar activity reaches its minimum, by 2041, and will last for 50-60 years or longer.

Researchers from the Oregon State University (OSU) Hatfield Marine Science Center are hoping to learn more about how the sea floor volcanoes and earthquakes contribute to the breakup of ice in the Antarctic region.

Global Warming Impact on Hurricanes might be Less than Earlier Thought a new study suggests says NOAA.

If scientists can't even agree on what has happened in the past, imagine how much more difficult it is to figure out the future.

It amazes me that so many people still believe that we are the cause of the Earth's climate changing (How arrogant of them).

Economically we are wasting our resources trying to convince the world that a natural warming cycle is caused by man.

Just relax and accept that we need to conserve energy and protect the environment. Leave the rest to God.