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Politics : Is Secession Doable? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (1166)	11/14/2004 4:38:05 PM
From: combjelly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1968

"So what? Is sulfur dioxide causing the hole in the ozone layer?" Not directly. But sulfur dioxide is nasty stuff. Volcanoes are also potent sources of carbon dioxide and have been implicated in previous warming episodes in the past. Bottom line, volcanoes can have a global effect that extends beyond the dust they emit. They can cause prompt cooling, but they can also result in long term warming and ozone destruction. The big risk, like with the human generated CO2, is if changing the energy balance results in warming of deep water in the oceans. That can cause the clathrates to become unstable and then things start to get interesting pretty quickly... Large volcanic eruptions inject water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), hydrochloric acid (HCl), hydrofluoric acid (HF) and ash (pulverized rock and pumice) into the stratosphere. CO2 is a greenhouse gas and contributes to global warming. HCl and HF can dissolve in water and fall to the earth as acid rain. Most of the SO2 is slowly converted to sulfuric acid (H2SO4), which condenses into a mist of fine particles. These sulfate aerosols reflect radiation from the Sun, cooling the troposphere; they also absorb the Earth's heat, warming the stratosphere. The aerosols also promote ozone destruction by altering chlorine and nitrogen chemical species in the stratosphere. As the aerosols settle down into the upper troposphere, they can serve as nuclei for cirrus clouds, further affecting the Earth's radiation balance. (figure modified from Richard Turco in American Geophysical Union Special Report: Volcanism and Climate Change, May 1992) vulcan.wr.usgs.gov