Volcanic eruptions

Fire and Ice

ver. 2 - Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 8:46:57 PM

By Heidi Schultz

It wasn’t until 1784 that a scientist suggested that volcanic eruptions could affect global climate. It was a year after the Laki fissure zone in Iceland erupted for eight months—the greatest outpouring of lava in historic time. Ash and sulfur dioxide spread through the atmosphere. Haze reduced sunlight, and acid rain destroyed crops and livestock. The scientist, residing in Paris at the time, puzzled over the strange weather and postulated to the philosophical society in Manchester, England, that the “universal fog” was a result of an Iceland eruption. That scientist was none other than Benjamin Franklin.

Bibliography

Schulz, Heidi. “Fire and Ice.” National Geographic (March 2005).