Mount Pinatubo; the Eruption.

This event was among the very quite few of its kind, that affected the Globe on a tremendous scale.

In June 1991, after 600 years of dormancy, mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted. The summit of the 1460-m volcano erupted.

* 15-20 million tons of ash and sulphuric acid mist were blasted into the atmosphere; concentrating at 16-25 km altitude.
* 12 km3 of material was ejected and extruded by the eruption  (12 times the volume from mount St Helens; another Volcano story).

* 60 days after the eruption about 42% of the globe was affected  (from 20°South to 30°North) by the thin, spreading aerosol cloud in the atmosphere.

* Colorful twilight and dawn skies were observed world wide.
* an increase in atmosphere albedo of 1.5% (4.3W/m2) occurred.
* an increase in the atmospheric absorption of insolation followed (2.5 W/m2)

* a decrease in net radiation at the surface and a lowering of Northern Hemisphere average temperatures of 0.5°C (0.9F) were measured.

The Next volcano story will be of Mount Helen’s.

Image Credits: Wikipedia