(ORDO NEWS) — Speaking of greenhouse gases, in most cases we mean emissions caused by human activities. However, we must not forget about nature: for example, about volcanic eruptions.
Volcanic eruptions are one of the sources of greenhouse gases leading to climate change. We know about catastrophic eruptions in the past, which led to global cooling. The volcanic eruption near the island of Tonga probably did not take on a huge scale, but caused a significant increase in carbon dioxide levels in the region.
Increasing carbon dioxide concentration
After the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano near the island of Tonga, discussions began about how this would affect the climate. Chinese researchers used satellite data to monitor the concentration of greenhouse gases on Earth.
It turned out that near the volcano itself, the concentration of CO2 increased to 414 ppm. Previously, this value was 412 ppm. It would seem that the growth is meager, but, as the article points out, an increase in carbon dioxide concentration by 2 ppm is equivalent to the annual level of emissions on the entire Earth.
If you look at the map of the region, you can see that the concentration of CO2 has also increased over Australia. It is likely that the volcanic eruption near Tonga is also related to this, because the ash cloud carried it towards the continent. This indicates the danger of powerful volcanic eruptions for the global climate on the planet.
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