This is the Zoom registration option for this course!

As students, we all learned of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Although historically interesting, the climate effects were minimal, and the Roman Empire was hardly impacted. This is not the case for all volcanic eruptions.

What about larger volcanic eruptions throughout human history? Is there a connection between volcanic eruptions and abrupt climate change? How are scientists able to determine past climatic shocks in the first place? Using lectures and Q&A, we will learn what scientists and historians currently know about the climatic impacts of large volcanic eruptions. For example, a massive volcanic eruption may have initiated the introduction of the Justinian Plague into Europe in 536 AD while others in the 13th and again in the 15th centuries may have ushered in and sustained the major climate event known as the Little Ice Age (LIA).

The forces in volcanic eruptions, associated climate impacts, and some elements of climatology and meteorology are addressed in terms that non-scientists will appreciate.

This course will be presented in a lecture format.