In January of 2022, the Earth witnessed the highest volcanic plume ever recorded by humans (at least with an internet connection). The underwater eruption released incalculable amounts of water vapor into the atmosphere, reaching as high as the mesosphere. Water vapor is the single most significant driver of warming on this planet, and without undue fanfare, the planet responded accordingly.
And now that effect is in decline.
The warming, whose cause we knew, was blamed on habitually comfortable Westerners and their addiction to “easy” living. And why not, after all, you never let a “crisis” go to waste. And we had an actual hockey stick. Doom, despair, and climate agony on me. The sky is falling. The end is near. We must embrace global communism now to stop it before we all DIE!!!
The media even ignored NASA’s reporting (emphasis, mine!).
It could also influence surface temperatures. Massive volcanic eruptions like Krakatoa and Mount Pinatubo typically cool Earth’s surface by ejecting gases, dust, and ash that reflect sunlight back into space. In contrast, the Tonga volcano didn’t inject large amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere, and the huge amounts of water vapor from the eruption may have a small, temporary warming effect, since water vapor traps heat.
Nothing to see here, move along, no messing with the narrative.
The absence of any evidence suggesting that warming would be harmful is no hurdle. Actual proof that warming lent itself to human flourishing continues to be suppressed. And that Hunga Tonga thing, well, what about it?
And what about the six year flatline prior to the eruption. Nothing to see hear.
And when you censor the scientists who disagree, what you’re left with is the appearance of acceptance of the approved narrative. But how do the Climat Cults luminary lights explain the significant downward trend post “that spike was you not Hunga Tonga.”
They’ve been trying to ignore it. Frigid temps here and there (central Europe for example). It’s just weather and maybe that La Nina thing. Nothing to see here. Continue with the incredily expensive and unreliable not-so-green energy infrastructure and for God’s sake, shut those coal plants down.
The Media’s disinterest in an observableclimate shift following an exectional geologic event is drawfed only by its disinterest in the end of its impact on global temperatures.
Note the warming oceans around 2015-16 caused by a particularly strong El Niño. The recent El Niño also caused warmer oceans, or ‘boiling’ to accurately report the sentiments loudly bloviated by the Guterres/Gore/Kerry gang. …
The last few years have witnessed extraordinary climatic events combined with astonishing levels of scientific disinterest in the causes of them. The ‘agreed’ answer of course was always to hand – it was humans wot did it, we have the computer models to prove it. And if you don’t agree with us, then don’t slam the door behind you.
Writing recently on Judith Curry’s blog, Javier Vinos wrote that what he termed the 2023 event revealed the “greatest failure of climate science”. Vinos is a leading proponent of the suggestion that the massive underwater Hunga Tonga volcano eruption in 2022, which increased water vapour in the upper atmosphere by up to 13%, was the prime cause of all the weather anomalies. Water vapour is a powerful warming gas of relatively short duration.
Short in the sense that we have roughly four billion years of Earth weather humans have been observing for but the tiniest fraction. A sliver that gets thinner if we focus on the “science” of it, and the modern pseudo-scientism of the climate cultist. Even manipulated records provice only a scintilla of evidence and the battle to rewrite history, not news to humans in any field of study, still can’t dismiss the crux of the problem. We know it has been a lot warmer. We know life flourished and that it does better during warm trends than cool, regardless of the driver. Oh, and we know that the modern effort is economic and political.
Ignoring the dramatic fall in global temperature is just more proof of that.
