When a volcano violently erupts, a plume of ash and gases spews skyward. The hot slurry quickly rises into the atmosphere, where various atmospheric dynamics interact to shape the volcanic cloud’s composition, height, and radiative properties. Volcanic clouds reflect solar radiation, cool Earth, cause weather extremes, and delay global warming, but scientists have long wondered exactly how volcanic material evolves and parses itself after eruption. To date, observations of the initial stage of strong eruptions have been sparse, and conventional climate models used to study the impact of volcanic eruptions cannot capture this initial stage in great detail.
Click here for original story, Modeling volcanic debris clouds
Source: Phys.org