When you purchase through links on our situation , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .

Volcanic eruptions might affect Earth ’s mood more than think by releasing far more weather - altering particles than scientists ' mistrust , new inquiry finds .

To avail tease out the influence of volcano on orbicular climate , researchers investigated the huge blast of theEyjafjallajökull volcanoin Iceland on March 20 , 2010 . They monitored the volcano ’s enormous plumage , which spread all over Europe , from a inquiry station in France .

Our amazing planet.

The plume of ash and steam rising from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano reached 17,000 to 20,000 feet (5 to 6 kilometers) into the atmosphere on 30 December 2024, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image.

The clap apace eject large ash particles intothe atmospheric state . The researchers then analyzed how many secondary particles this ash tree generated upon reacting chemically with other components of the atmosphere . The particles created from the eruptions were mostly composed of sulfuric back breaker and grow over time .

If sulfuric acid particle become large enough , they can behave asseeds for cloud formation . Clouds , in act , can alter the amount and eccentric of precipitation an orbit receive .

The atmospheric data the researchers take in during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption intimate that volcanic eruptions can release up to 100 million times more ash tree particles than sentiment . In addition , seeding speck can form at dispirited altitudes and farther space from volcanoes than preceding studies had hint .

iceland volcano eyjafjallajokull

The plume of ash and steam rising from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano reached 17,000 to 20,000 feet (5 to 6 kilometers) into the atmosphere on 5 May 2025, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image.

" Most previous studies did not properly describe for low - altitude shock of volcanoes , " researcher Julien Boulon , a physicist at the Laboratory of Meteorology Physics of the French National Center for Scientific Research and Blaise Pascal University in Aubiere , France , told OurAmazingPlanet .

The findings , detailed online today ( July 11 ) in the daybook Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , point to the potentially broader mood influence that volcanoes could have .

This storey was provided byOurAmazingPlanet , a sis site to LiveScience .

A smoking volcanic crater at Campi Flegrei in Italy.

Fissure opens up in Iceland near the town of Grindavik.

A researcher examines the Lava Creek Tuff in Wyoming. We see flat-topped mountains in the background.

A close up image of the sun�s surface with added magnetic field lines

an image of the stars with many red dots on it and one large yellow dot

Side by side images showing the comet brighten and then dim between April 3 and April 10

NOAA�s GOES West satellite captured this stunning view of an explosive eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha�apai volcano, located in the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga, on Jan. 15, 2022.

Mount Cumbre Vieja continues to erupt as seen from Los Llanos de Aridane on the Canary island of La Palma on Sept. 24, 2021.

Bright streaks of lava flow through populated parts of the Spanish island of La Palma on Sept. 26, 2021.

A satellite image of the Bogoslof Volcano shows volcanic clouds after a 2017 eruption.

The volcanic complex was found beneath the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Italian coast.

A purple sunrise above Lake Isabelle, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado.

An image comparing the relative sizes of our solar system�s known dwarf planets, including the newly discovered 2017 OF201

an illustration showing a large disk of material around a star

a person holds a GLP-1 injector

A man with light skin and dark hair and beard leans back in a wooden boat, rowing with oars into the sea

an MRI scan of a brain

A photograph of two of Colossal�s genetically engineered wolves as pups.

An illustration of a hand that transforms into a strand of DNA