Ottawa Blizzard Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 The volcanic eruption in Chile seems quite intense. Could it impact the weather over the next 12-18 months, given it's closer to the tropics? I gather that tropical volcanoes have a greater impact on the weather than high latitude ones. Apparently a major volcano in Peru around 1600 had a huge impact on weather patterns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 The volcano is located at latitude 40S and given that the average westerlies in the Southern Hemisphere are more equatorward than in the Northern especially now that it's Winter there It is unlikely that a global impact would occur due to the ejecta. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skierinvermont Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 From what I see the ash plume height is only reaching 10km which isn't really enough to do anything, probably the top is near or just in the stratosphere. Past climactic eruptions have had ash clouds reach, respectively: PInatubo: 34km Helens: 24km El Chichon: 20km The key is to eject large quantities of SO2 into the stratosphere (not ash actually) and 10km just doesn't cut it unless this were a prolonged high SO2 concentration eruption similar to Laki. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastCoastLow Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Flights in southern Australia and New Zealand have been affected by this. So it's affecting the atmosphere now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmlwx Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Flights in southern Australia and New Zealand have been affected by this. So it's affecting the atmosphere now. Not necessarily. That just means the ash is drifting - any substance can travel with the wind. This still doesn't mean it's having a substantial impact on the atmosphere. If there were no planes to be concerned about it's likely this wouldn't be a big deal at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottawa Blizzard Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 From what I see the ash plume height is only reaching 10km which isn't really enough to do anything, probably the top is near or just in the stratosphere. Past climactic eruptions have had ash clouds reach, respectively: PInatubo: 34km Helens: 24km El Chichon: 20km The key is to eject large quantities of SO2 into the stratosphere (not ash actually) and 10km just doesn't cut it unless this were a prolonged high SO2 concentration eruption similar to Laki. How high was the Tambora ash cloud? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 No way of knowing about Tambora but it could have been 50 km up. The main thing is not so much how high but what's in the plume and how much. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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