24 Comments
Aug 9, 2023Liked by Andrew Dessler

Very helpful, and resolves my own uncertainty about the matter.

Regarding the deniers, my favorite of your writings was a sneak-preview of an IPCC report that was embargoed for a few more days. You previewed the contents of the report this way: “You morons, we’ve been telling you this for 30 years ...” Got a great chuckle out of that.

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Dr. Dressler, thank you very much for using your time to post this. For me, a great learning experience. My previous discussions with a physical oceanographer leads me to conclude that most of the environmental risks, damages and loss of lives, was due to tsunamis, near and very distant, and--- "shockwaves", detected as faraway as Europe. Rather than listing individual citations, here is a pretty good summary with great graphics: https://www.theclimatebrink.com/p/the-climate-impact-of-the-hunga-tonga . cheers

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Thank you this is so helpful. I got the Hunga Tonga must be the cause of the July heat just yesterday from 'deniers'

They also said that because the July increase was so big it couldn't have been caused by human emissions of co2 because that has a gradual effect on rising temperatures! Like the body the climate system must be interconnected. Melting ice, el Nino/la nina will interplay to cause sudden jumps. I am sure you could say this in a much more convincing sounding way?

Thank you

Jo

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Thank you for this! I am glad I found your newsletter. I am teaching Intro to Earth Science this fall and am adding this to our volcanoes reading list. I appreciate the relevant, approachable style and am sure students will too.

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I was doing research on a paleontology project a few years ago and remember reading that volcanoes likely warmed the planet during prehistoric times because the volume was so much greater. Does this track with what scientists believe?

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Nice article, well written. I have a question that I'm hoping you can clear up. Since the lapse rate in the stratosphere is of the opposite sign to that in the troposphere, why isn't the long wavelength forcing in the Solomon plot negative? In other words, why isn't water vapor in the stratosphere cooling rather than warming? Thanks in advance.

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Is one of the papers you referenced from NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research)? I have seen that being referenced in tweets claiming eruption is having a "warming effect".

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Dr Dessler, I would like to thank you for the climate brink. It has been so much fun reading your posts. The first one I read was the carbon capture one and I’ve been hooked ever since.

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Here's a relevant question: To what extent does atmospheric SO2, from volcanoes or fossil fuel combustion, react with OH to an extent that the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere is reduced? I have seen at least one paleoclimate paper that suggests that increased volcanic SO2 in the past reduced atmospheric OH, increased the lifetime of atmospheric methane, and forced greater warming.

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Could HT affected the colder earlier, heavier than average snowfall, late cold spring we had in Alaska last winter?

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