Brian Dunbar

Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

June 25, 1991
(Phone: 202/453-1547)

Delores Beasley
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301/286-2806)

RELEASE: 91-96

NASA TRACKS 4800-MILE VOLCANIC CLOUD FROM MOUNT PINATUBO

Preliminary data estimates from a NASA satellite indicate a

4,800-mile-long cloud of sulfur dioxide has spread across the
tropical Northern Hemisphere from the major eruption of Mount
Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines. Research by Dr. Arlin
Krueger, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, Md., indicates the cloud has drifted 4,800
miles since the June 16, 1991, eruption.

The data was obtained from NASA's Total Ozone Mapping

Spectrometer (TOMS), an instrument on the NIMBUS-7 satellite that
measures ozone levels and monitors sulfur dioxide emissions.
TOMS's mapping capability makes it possible to observe major
volcanic eruptions, then track the plumes and measure the sulfur
dioxide output during eruptions. In the atmosphere, the gas
reacts with water to form a sulfuric acid aerosol.

Sulfur dioxide is a toxic gas known best as a major cause of

air pollution. Volcanic aerosols smaller than those produced by
Pinatubo have been shown to have small, but measurable effects on
regional climate. The effects of the Pinatubo cloud will be
important not only in assessing the impact volcanoes can have on
climate, but in testing and modifying climate models as well.
 "What people can expect this fall are rosy sunsets as a
result of aerosol particles produced from the cloud," Krueger
said. "There also is a possibility that the cloud will reflect
back into space some of the sunlight that would have reached the
ground, resulting is a small change in the heat balance of the
Earth," he added.

In terms of sulfur dioxide emissions, the Mount Pinatubo

eruption may be two times larger than the eruption of El Chichon
volcano in southern Mexico in April 1982, making Mount Pinatubo
possibly the largest eruption this century.

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The TOMS has monitored and measured ozone levels since 1978.
Another TOMS is scheduled to be launched on a Soviet Meteor-3
satellite on Aug. 15, 1991. The TOMS program is managed by
Goddard Space Flight Center for NASA's Office of Space Science
and Applications, Washington, D.C.

-end-

Note to editors: A NASA satellite image showing the cloud

spreading across the Indian Ocean is available to news media
representatives from the NASA Headquarters Audio-Visual Branch at
202/453-8373.