Editor's Summary

9 February 2006

Blast from the past

The 1883 eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in Indonesia has echoed down the centuries in art and in legend. Now an analysis of a suite of 12 climate models shows that Krakatoa also made its presence felt well into the twentieth century in the form of reduced ocean warming and sea-level rise. The changes lasted much longer than was previously suspected and were sufficient to offset much of the ocean warming and sea-level rise caused by more recent human activities.

Brief Communications: Volcanoes and climate: Krakatoa's signature persists in the ocean

This huge eruption slowed sea-level rise and ocean warming well into the following century.

P. J. Gleckler, T. M. L. Wigley, B. D. Santer, J. M. Gregory, K. AchutaRao and K. E. Taylor

doi:10.1038/439675a

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