Earth's natural geo-engineering

Sun-dimming volcanoes partly explain global warming hiatus-study

Reuters
Sun Feb 23, 2014 1:00pm EST

• At least 17 volcanic eruptions this century cooled climate
• Partly explains warming slowdown that heartened sceptics

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Small volcanic eruptions help explain a hiatus in global warming this century by dimming sunlight and offsetting a rise in emissions of heat-trapping gases to record highs, a study showed on Sunday.

Eruptions of at least 17 volcanoes since 2000, including Nabro in Eritrea, Kasatochi in Alaska and Merapi in Indonesia, ejected sulphur whose sun-blocking effect had been largely ignored until now by climate scientists, it said.

The pace of rising world surface temperatures has slowed since an exceptionally warm 1998, heartening those who doubt that an urgent, trillion-dollar shift to renewable energies from fossil fuels is needed to counter global warming.

Explaining the hiatus could bolster support for a U.N. climate deal, due to be agreed by almost 200 governments at a summit in Paris in late 2015 to avert ever more floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising sea levels.

(Continued here.)