For anyone else is curious if this ash cloud will have an impact on the global climate

[NJmaverick]

here is the best (honestly the only) link I could find on the topic:

http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=159317


The reader's digest version is that no it will not have an impact because the dust isn't high enough in the atmosphere.

[kestrel91316]

1. Very interesting excerpt:

"I expect that the impact of this volcano on global temperatures so far will be small because most of the material is apparently emitted and transported in the troposphere (below 6 miles or 10 kilometers)," said Holtslag of Wageningen University's Center for Water and Climate.

"If the Icelandic volcano continues erupting and if the dust forms a layer in the stratosphere "” which is 6 to 30 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) high "” the "implications may be more significant," he wrote in an e-mail."

[Fire1]

2. Thanks for that, Maverick. Good to know. n/t

[whoneedstickets]

3. If it triggers the bigger nearby volcano....things could be different.

but either way it would only be temporary-- the Tambora eruption of 1815 was monstrous by comparison (a similar eruption on Iceland could make that island unlivable) and it only affected climate for a few years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora

[RKP5637]

4. Thanks, interesting, had been wondering about this. n/t

[spin]

5. A volcano in Iceland 200 years ago did impact the climate ...

How an Icelandic volcano helped spark the French Revolution

Profound effects of eight-month eruption in 1783 caused chaos from US to Egypt, say experts

Just over 200 years ago an Icelandic volcano erupted with catastrophic consequences for weather, agriculture and transport across the northern hemisphere – and helped trigger the French revolution.

The Laki volcanic fissure in southern Iceland erupted over an eight-month period from 8 June 1783 to February 1784, spewing lava and poisonous gases that devastated the island's agriculture, killing much of the livestock. It is estimated that perhaps a quarter of Iceland's population died through the ensuing famine.

Then, as now, there were more wide-ranging impacts. In Norway, the Netherlands, the British Isles, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, in North America and even Egypt, the Laki eruption had its consequences, as the haze of dust and sulphur particles thrown up by the volcano was carried over much of the northern hemisphere.

Ships moored up in many ports, effectively fogbound. Crops were affected as the fall-out from the continuing eruption coincided with an abnormally hot summer. A clergyman, the Rev Sir John Cullum, wrote to the Royal Society that barley crops "became brown and withered … as did the leaves of the oats; the rye had the appearance of being mildewed".

***snip***

Across the Atlantic, Benjamin Franklin wrote of "a constant fog over all Europe, and a great part of North America".

The disruption to weather patterns meant the ensuing winter was unusually harsh, with consequent spring flooding claiming more lives. In America the Mississippi reportedly froze at New Orleans. emphasis added

The eruption is now thought to have disrupted the Asian monsoon cycle, prompting famine in Egypt. Environmental historians have also pointed to the disruption caused to the economies of northern Europe, where food poverty was a major factor in the build-up to the French revolution of 1789.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/15/iceland-vol...

Experts observing this week’s volcanic eruption at Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced AY-ya-fyat-la-yo-kult) say that while the scale of crisis may not be the same, continued eruptions at the spot could cool temperatures in Northern Europe. Richard Wunderman, a volcanologist with the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program said the volcanic plume contains a lot of sulfur “that can become an aerosol up there that hangs around a long time reflecting sunlight” , creating a regional “volcano weather” effect.

But a bigger concern lurks nearby. Just a few kilometers to the east of the erupting vent is a much bigger and potentially more dangerous volcano called Katla. In the past, when Eyjafjallajökull erupted, Katla did too. So scientists are closely monitoring Katla to see if it, too, might go . emphasis added

The one bright spot in the current explosion, say scientists, is that there may be enough aerosols in the atmosphere to cause brilliant red sunsets across Europe.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/04/16/icelandic-volcanoes-disrupting-weather-history-since-1783/

http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/photogalleries/ig/Iceland-Photo-Gallery/Map-of-Volcanoes-in-Iceland.htm

[NJmaverick]

9. Thanks, it was stories like those that made me wonder about this one

[Rex]

6. I read last night that a sister volcano goes off and that if it does

then we might be in a spot of trouble. As active as the Earth is, I doubt this one alone will cause a global event.

[Iterate]

7. Not a problem, really, not a problem.

"Icelandic volcano won't affect the world's climate"
http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2010/04/16/2874939.htm

It's just not that big.

And I'm getting the impression that the press has decided over the weekend that the real story and real volcano just aren't big enough. Skies across N. Europe are clear, blue, and quiet. It's a novelty to look up and not see jets and contrails. I live near a glide-path and it's been wonderfully quiet. Quiet skies and panicky headlines.

The airlines have done the right thing and have been cautious. They also may be avoiding potentially expensive repairs, but don't get the impression that every hausfrau in Hamburg has been busily shoveling off her sidewalk all weekend or that any flight is the equivalent of a daredevil dash over Mt Pinatubo.

[uppityperson]

8. Thank you. k&r

[Turbineguy]

10. My suggestion to Iceland

is to change the names of the volcanoes to something pronounceable if they want to be players in the My-Volcano-Can-Spew-Farther-Than-Yours game.

[NJmaverick]

11. The Country is in a whole lot of trouble right now