Volcanic eruptions may destroy ozone layer, doom Earth: Climate simulation stuns scientists

 

When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano near the remote Pacific archipelago exploded, shockwaves were felt across the world, tsunami was triggered and the ash severely damaged local areas. A new climate simulation by Nasa reveals how volcanoes could be detrimental to the planet.

Extreme volcanic eruptions may destroy the Ozone layer, the shield that protects us from the deadly ultraviolet rays of the Sun, and significantly warm Earth's climate. Known as flood basalt eruptions, they could have been the reason behind Venus and Mars' present-day conditions.

The new climate simulation and its findings contradict previous studies that indicated that the eruptions could work to cool the climate.

WHAT IS FLOOD BASALT ERUPTION?

A Flood Basal Eruption is an extreme volcanic eruption characterised by a series of eruptive episodes lasting perhaps centuries each and occurring over periods of hundreds of thousands of years, sometimes even longer. Nasa says that some happened at about the same time as mass-extinction events, and many are associated with extremely warm periods in Earth's history.

"They also appear to have been common on other terrestrial worlds in our solar system, such as Mars and Venus."

Researchers used the Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry-Climate Model to simulate a four-year-long phase of the Columbia River Basalt (CRB) eruption that occurred between 15 million and 17 million years ago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.