Mt. Pinatubo released large amounts of aerosols
| The images above show the effect that the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo had on the atmosphere. The picture in the upper left shows the atmosphere before the eruption, with low levels of aerosols present. (The thicker the optical depth is, the more aerosols are in the air.) The image in the upper right shows the atmosphere after the eruption, with large amounts of the volcanic aerosols having spread around the world. Because the dominant winds are east-west, the aerosols by this time have not had a chance to travel to higher latitudes. The lower two images, taken in the months following the eruption, show the aerosols moving to higher latitudes and eventually being spread evenly throughout the entire atmosphere. These images were taken by a satellite instrument called the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) II. |
Credit: Image credit: NASA LARC, Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) II
For more info: http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/terra/aerosol/aerosol1.html