NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • All Blacks
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

No, Hunga-Tonga eruption won't slow global warming

Jamie Morton
By Jamie Morton
Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·
17 Jan, 2022 03:14 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

It produced an ash cloud spanning hundreds of square kilometres - but scientists say it's unlikely Hunga-Tonga's big blow will put any dent in global warming. Image / JMA
It produced an ash cloud spanning hundreds of square kilometres - but scientists say it's unlikely Hunga-Tonga's big blow will put any dent in global warming. Image / JMA

It produced an ash cloud spanning hundreds of square kilometres - but scientists say it's unlikely Hunga-Tonga's big blow will put any dent in global warming. Image / JMA

It produced an ash cloud spanning hundreds of square kilometres – but scientists say it's unlikely Hunga-Tonga's big blow will put any dent in global warming.

The Tongan volcano's Saturday evening eruption was so large it could be clearly observed from space, and created an enormous umbrella of ash that stretched to around 260km.

In our planet's past, major eruptions have been able to cool the climate by spewing massive amounts of dust and sulphate aerosols into the atmosphere.

While larger ash particles fell from the air quickly, smaller ones rose to form a dark cloud in the troposphere - and the very smallest entered the stratosphere, where they could block sunlight and causing cooling over large areas of the Earth.

When Indonesia's Mt Tambora erupted in 1815, belching an estimated 100 cubic km of ash into this atmosphere, the average global temperature fell by as much as 3C in 1816, influencing the famous "year without a summer" in North America and Europe.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A 2020 study found six major eruptions – including Krakatoa in 1883, Tarawera in 1886 and Mt Pinatubo in 1991 – had their own fleeting footprint on New Zealand's climate over the last 150 years.

These events had led to mean temperatures about 0.3C to 0.5C lower compared with several seasons before – and often an increase in southwesterly winds.

🌋 Here is a 24hr loop of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption yesterday. 🌋

🛰 The 4 panels show a special ash detection view, longwave IR (cloud top temperatuers), shortwave IR (similar to what we see, but still viewable at night time), and true colour RGB (what we see 👀) pic.twitter.com/QpnGRhJfRF

— MetService (@MetService) January 16, 2022

Climate scientist Professor Jim Salinger, who co-authored the study, said Hunga-Tonga's eruption was big enough to send 0.4 teragrams – equivalent to 0.4 megatons – of sulphur dioxide (SO2) into the stratosphere.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

That likely wouldn't have any global climate effect, he said, but it could have a regional one.

"What we'll probably see in the next two months is rather magnificent sunsets as the sulfuric acid mist slowly descends from the stratosphere – but I'd also expect cooling in our region to amount to a few tenths of a degree, maximum."

Salinger said any climate effect would likely take months to play out, given it took time for these tiny particles to disperse over the Southern Hemisphere.

Victoria University climate scientist Professor James Renwick agreed.

"It's certainly a very significant effect locally, but it's not likely to have an effect on the global climate," he said.

"Sure, it's cutting a bit of sunlight reaching that particular part of the tropics, and what's in the aerosol cloud will spread out in the stratosphere – but that's not going to lead to significantly cooler temperatures."

Major eruptions like Tarawera in 1886 have been shown to cause temporary dips in New Zealand's average temperature. Image / Charles Blomfield
Major eruptions like Tarawera in 1886 have been shown to cause temporary dips in New Zealand's average temperature. Image / Charles Blomfield

By contrast, Mt Pinatubo's eruption - the second-largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century after the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in Alaska – pushed down global temperatures by 0.5C.

That owed to the sheer volume of SO2 it ejected into the stratosphere: around 15 million tonnes, and more than any eruption since Krakatoa in 1883.

In a media statement, Niwa also said early indications from the Tonga eruption did not show extreme levels of SO2 in the stratosphere.

"More measurements need to be taken and further eruptions are possible, but it seems that this eruption event is unlikely to have a significant impact on global climate or change the direction of the global temperature trend," Niwa said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, some of the SO2 had been wrapped into Cyclone Cody, east of New Zealand.

"SO2 is a toxic, invisible pollutant, so for those in Tonga, this could cause short-term hazards to human health, including acid rain and 'volcanic smog'."

While volcanic eruptions also released carbon dioxide (CO2), that generated in contemporary events have never caused any detectable global warming of the atmosphere.

In fact, studies have shown the world's volcanoes releases less than a per cent of the CO2 currently caused by human activities.

Meanwhile, a new analysis by Salinger has found the wider New Zealand region experienced its third-warmest year in 2021, behind 2016 and 2019.

Sea surface temperatures in the region averaged 14.15C last year, while mean land temperatures alone came in at a record-hot 13.56C.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Combined, the "Zealandia" region as Salinger called it, experienced an average of 14.11C.

Along with the influence of climate change, Salinger said last year's warmth was because of a mix of factors, including warmer seas and the effect of La Niña, which faded but then returned.

Source / Jim Salinger
Source / Jim Salinger

A separate climate indicator, called the tripolar index, had spent much of last year in a negative phase, which encouraged La Ninas and sea surface temperatures around New Zealand to be above average.

Still, Salinger said the result again drove home the fact that climate change was continuing – and he urged leaders to take bold action to slow it.

"We very urgently need to get going."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Sick social housing tenant fights eviction bid linked to disruptive visitors

06 Jul 03:00 AM
New Zealand

Afternoon quiz: What is the main language spoken in Egypt?

06 Jul 03:00 AM
AucklandUpdated

Watch: Large fire engulfs incomplete apartments in Māngere

06 Jul 02:30 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Watch: Large fire engulfs incomplete apartments in Māngere
Auckland

Watch: Large fire engulfs incomplete apartments in Māngere

06 Jul 02:30 AM
Warriors trail Roosters in NRLW return
Warriors

Warriors trail Roosters in NRLW return

06 Jul 02:30 AM
Ozzy Osbourne's final Black Sabbath gig draws thousands in Birmingham
World

Ozzy Osbourne's final Black Sabbath gig draws thousands in Birmingham

06 Jul 02:09 AM
Arrest made after woman suffers injuries in alleged Whangārei assault
Northern Advocate

Arrest made after woman suffers injuries in alleged Whangārei assault

06 Jul 02:05 AM
Why depachikas in Japan are the best place to enjoy the foodie scene
Travel

Why depachikas in Japan are the best place to enjoy the foodie scene

06 Jul 02:00 AM

Latest from New Zealand

Sick social housing tenant fights eviction bid linked to disruptive visitors

Sick social housing tenant fights eviction bid linked to disruptive visitors

06 Jul 03:00 AM

The Tenancy Tribunal heard she was 'extremely vulnerable' and was likely being exploited.

Afternoon quiz: What is the main language spoken in Egypt?

Afternoon quiz: What is the main language spoken in Egypt?

06 Jul 03:00 AM
Watch: Large fire engulfs incomplete apartments in Māngere

Watch: Large fire engulfs incomplete apartments in Māngere

06 Jul 02:30 AM
Large fire engulfs incomplete apartments in Māngere

Large fire engulfs incomplete apartments in Māngere

From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search