Originally Posted by Bladecutter
Volcanoes are, I believe, the largest contributor of CO2 into the atmosphere.
BC.
As radmanly pointed out, perhaps not.
But it still remains:
the only way to really mess up the atmosphere (and climate) is STILL a volcano:
Researchers have found compelling evidence of a previously undocumented large volcanic eruption that occurred exactly 200 years ago, in 1809. The discovery explains the record cold decade from 1810 to 1819.
Researchers analyzed ice sample chemicals from snow-capped Antarctica and Greenland in the Arctic. The year-by-year accumulations of polar ice sheet snow show what went into the stratosphere. Researchers found large amounts of volcanic sulfuric acid in the snow layers of 1809 and 1810 in both Greenland and Antarctica. Climate records show that not only was 1816 the “year without a summer”, but the entire decade is the coldest for at least the past 500 years. We long knew that Tambora’s massive and violent eruption in 1815 in Indonesia killed 88,000 people and caused the worldwide cold weather in 1816 and in years after.
Volcanic eruptions cool the planet because they release atmospheric sulfur that forms sulfuric acid aerosols and blocks sunlight. However, early decade cold temperatures, before that eruption, suggest Tambora alone did not caused the climatic changes. The immense Tambora eruption sent 100 million tons of sulfur gas into the atmosphere. Ice core samples suggest the 1809 eruption was also very large, perhaps half Tambora’s size. This would also cool the earth for a few years.
The 1809 volcanic sulfuric acid came down at opposite poles at the same time, meaning that sulfate is from a single, large, volcanic eruption. The two different eruptions are together responsible for the unusually cold decade. Because they found sulfuric acid at both poles, the eruption occurred in the tropics, as Tambora’s did. Wind patterns carried volcanic material to the entire world.
The research specifically looked for and found a special indicator of sulfuric acid from stratospheric volcanic sulfur gas. The special indicator is an unusual sulfur isotope in the volcanic sulfuric acid. The unique sulfur isotope composition is a fingerprint of volcanic material that reached the stratosphere.
The stratosphere is the second major layer of the Earth's atmosphere, reaching from about six to 30 miles above the Earth’s surface at moderate latitudes. To affect global climate, rather than local weather, the gas has to reach up into the stratosphere. Once there, it spreads around the world.
Got it here:
Undocumented Volcano Contributed To Extremely Cold Decade From 1810-1819