Volcanic Eruptions and the Atmosphere

Assess the extent to which primary rather than secondary impacts are the more serious effects arising from volcanic eruptions. (30 marks)

A hazard is a situation that poses a level of threat tolife, health, property or environment. The level of hazard posed by different volcanoes can very greatly, from a weak eruption with minimal impact that causes little damage, to a voilent and life threatening explosion. Most of the sixty-plus volcanoes that erupt each year are low risk, however a combination of factors can cause a volcano to be a serious hazard. The factors causing these variations will be explained in this essay.

Analyse the factors that causes differences in the hazards posed by volcanoes around the world (40 marks)

Furthermore, acid magma is more likely to produce clouds of smoke and ash due to the explosive nature of the eruption it causes, than thinner, basic lava. Ash clouds, such as the one caused by the Icelandic volcano when it erupted in April 2010, which caused severe disruption to European air space, causing thousands of flights to be cancelled due to concerns over the hazards posed to air passengers travelling through the ash cloud.

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

The water and hydrocarbons exuded by the leaves produce the filmy “smoke” that gives the mountains their name. Air pollution in recent years has added microscopic sulfate particles to the haze, cutting visibility back about 60 percent since the 1950s. The pollution has also affected the park's red spruce stand—the southern Appalachians' largest. And insects are destroying the Fraser fir, the spruce's high-altitude companion.

There are 5 gases coming out of the volcano that can be hazardous to the civilization, animals, plantation, and all the live creatures around. Even though the most abundant gas that comes off is water vapor (which is not harmful to our health), the magma still liberates another substances as hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen halides.

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)

The major greenhouse gas is water vapor. Then there is carbon dioxide, plus a few trace gases (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para4). Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere by natural processes and by human actions such as burning fossil fuels. Methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases are all emitted into the atmosphere by human activities (U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010, Greenhouse Gas Overview section).

There are many causes that leads to the haze problem such as open burning on the large scales, the increasing number of vehicles and uncontrolled industrial activity.

Introduction: Since the beginning of time, volcanoes have been wreaking havoc on the world, as we know it. Yet in the more recent times, there has been a great amount of debate regarding the effect of volcanic eruptions on world climate change. In this report, the effects of these volcanoes will be explored, particularly in regards to cooling and the depletion of the ozone.

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.

Aerosols are particles in the atmosphere that affect reflectivity, which affect the amount of energy that enters Earth, ultimately affecting global temperature change. An example of this can be seen in volcanic eruptions. Volcanic particles that reach the upper atmosphere are able to reflect enough sunlight back to space, which can cool the surface of Earth by a few tenths of a degree for a few years (Hegerl, 2007).

Volcanoes and Earthquakes are two of the most intriguing natural disasters that can occur on earth. Unlike hurricanes and tornadoes, they can awaken at almost any point in time throughout the year. These two natural disasters are also different from others because they occur on the layers of the earth itself. Volcanoes, while large to us, are actually small, conical patches of earth that spurt and ooze hot molten lava from the core, and can destroy areas of land triple their size. Earthquakes, on the other hand, are severe jolts felt on land due to the movement of earths tectonic plates. Some may describe earthquakes as being similar to riding a bike down a flight of stairs. The impact of an earthquakes can take down even the largest buildings and strongest structures. All natural disasters can have damaging effects on land, some more than others, and all can be measured or predicted in different ways. Although earthquakes and volcanoes are similar to each other, the two are still very comparable. A few of these similarities and differences include the cause of their occurrence, and how their occurrence impacts the environment.