Volcanic dust veils and North Atlantic climatic change

Abstract

ONE possible climatic control that has been neglected in empirical studies until recent years is the variation in the volcanic dust loading of the upper atmosphere. I shall discuss here the nature of the relationship between volcanic activity and the climate of the North Atlantic sector and its importance in relation to other proposed climatic controls on time scales up to 300 yr. Fluctuations on these time scales in a volcanic dust veil index (DVI) compiled by Lamb1 and in parameters representative of the strength of the North Atlantic westerly winds and the temperature of central England are shown to be similar.