Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Large Explosive Volcanos Cause Significant Short-Term Cooling, But AlSO Trigger Century Long Cooling
When a large volcano erupts and sends ash and soot and sulfur into the upper atmosphere it causes a short-term cooling, for example it can reduce global average temperatures by 0.5 to 1.0 degrees Celsius for 3 to 5 years.
What most people do not realize, is that there is often a longer term cooling as well, often lasting for a century or a few centuries up to even 1000 years. This long-term cooling is measured by looking at glacial advance both at the poles and at high altitudes.
Many feedback loops kick in to give this longer term cooling, including:
- temperature imbalance between northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere
- slowing AMOC, bringing less heat to the northern hemisphere
- shift of the ITCZ (Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone) towards the warmer hemisphere
- growth of sea ice around the pole in the cooler hemisphere
- etc...
This new science paper examines these effects, which have great relevance to today when we next experience a major volcano...
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References and Links:
Peer-reviewed scientific paper (open source: free) in Nature Communications:
Title: Evidence for volcanic forcing of Holocene cold events
Abstract
During the Holocene, the climatic stability of the northern hemisphere was intermittently disrupted by centennial-scale cooling events, whose origins remain unclear. Explosive volcanism is a plausible trigger, yet its potential to drive longer-term (centennial-to-millennial) perturbations remains underexplored. Here, we compile records of explosive volcanism, atmospheric sulphate, climate variability, and glacial dynamics over the past ~12,000 years to test the temporal correspondence between major eruptions and abrupt cooling events, and assess mechanisms linking volcanic forcing to prolonged climatic shifts. Over 80% of Holocene glacial advances occurred within chronological uncertainty of at least one large (M ≥ 7) eruption in the northern hemisphere. Monte Carlo simulations confirm that this relationship is non-random (p less than 0.01). Combined with evidence for sea ice expansion, Atlantic Ocean circulation weakening, and southward tropical rain belt displacement, our results suggest that volcanic impacts can persist well beyond aerosol lifetimes, emphasizing the need to consider dynamical feedbacks in Earth system responses to eruptions.
Link: nature.com/articles/s41467-026-73492-4
Wikipedia Page: Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_explosivity_index
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
Large Explosive Volcanos Cause Significant Short-Term Cooling, But AlSO Trigger Century Long Cooling
When a large volcano erupts and sends ash and soot and sulfur into the upper atmosphere it causes a short-term cooling, for example it can reduce global average temperatures by 0.5 to 1.0 degrees Celsius for 3 to 5 years.
What most people do not realize, is that there is often a longer term cooling as well, often lasting for a century or a few centuries up to even 1000 years. This long-term cooling is measured by looking at glacial advance both at the poles and at high altitudes.
Many feedback loops kick in to give this longer term cooling, including:
- temperature imbalance between northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere
- slowing AMOC, bringing less heat to the northern hemisphere
- shift of the ITCZ (Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone) towards the warmer hemisphere
- growth of sea ice around the pole in the cooler hemisphere
- etc...
This new science paper examines these effects, which have great relevance to today when we next experience a major volcano...
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
References and Links:
Peer-reviewed scientific paper (open source: free) in Nature Communications:
Title: Evidence for volcanic forcing of Holocene cold events
Abstract
During the Holocene, the climatic stability of the northern hemisphere was intermittently disrupted by centennial-scale cooling events, whose origins remain unclear. Explosive volcanism is a plausible trigger, yet its potential to drive longer-term (centennial-to-millennial) perturbations remains underexplored. Here, we compile records of explosive volcanism, atmospheric sulphate, climate variability, and glacial dynamics over the past ~12,000 years to test the temporal correspondence between major eruptions and abrupt cooling events, and assess mechanisms linking volcanic forcing to prolonged climatic shifts. Over 80% of Holocene glacial advances occurred within chronological uncertainty of at least one large (M ≥ 7) eruption in the northern hemisphere. Monte Carlo simulations confirm that this relationship is non-random (p less than 0.01). Combined with evidence for sea ice expansion, Atlantic Ocean circulation weakening, and southward tropical rain belt displacement, our results suggest that volcanic impacts can persist well beyond aerosol lifetimes, emphasizing the need to consider dynamical feedbacks in Earth system responses to eruptions.
Link: nature.com/articles/s41467-026-73492-4
Wikipedia Page: Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_explosivity_index
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
