On December 24, 2024, Markus Stoffel, a climate professor at the University of Geneva, warned that a massive volcanic eruption may cool our planet.
He compares it to the Mount Tambora eruption of 1815. The catastrophe plunged global temperatures, causing crops to fail and starving people.
READ: New skeleton find could reveal more about Vesuvius eruption
Stoffel told CNN that geological evidence suggests the world has a 1-in-6 chance of a similar disaster. Worse, he believes “humanity does not have any plan.”
Global cooling from a volcanic eruption isn’t positive
Cooling the world may seem ideal because countries have been struggling with climate change for years.
However, the US University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) says a volcanic eruption caused global cooling in 1815, with devastating consequences.
On April 5, 1815, Indonesia’s Mt. Tambora ejected a colossal amount of ash and aerosols into the atmosphere.
The event blocked the Sun from view and darkened skies. Hence, many dubbed it “The Year Without a Summer.”
It covered towns with enough ash to collapse houses. Worse, it deprived European and North American crops of sunshine, causing food shortages.
The global cooling made it harder to feed horses, which was the primary means of transportation then.
Consequently, the phenomenon inspired German Karl Drais to invent an alternative called the bicycle.
Nowadays, Markus Stoffel warns the world’s reliance on fossil fuels could make a similar volcanic eruption more destructive.
“The effects could be even worse than in 1815,” he continued,” the world is more unstable now.”
Volcanologist Dr. Thomas Aubry suggests that the world’s hotter atmosphere would spread sulfur dioxide gas more quickly and intensify global cooling.
“We suggest that would amplify the surface cooling by 15%,” Aubry told Daily Mail.
In response, Aubry and other volcanologists are mapping volcanoes that are most sensitive to climate change to help countries prepare.