The Ice Age, Climate Change, and a Tonga Volcano

On some enchanted evening, you may want to journey the south Pacific from Hawai'i to New Zealand. On the way, you will see the archipelago Kingdom of Tonga. It has 136 islands, but people only live on 36 of them. Most of those are on the largest island, Tongatapu. There was a big volcanic eruption.

The volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai is one of those that is mostly submerged and sticks up out of the ocean. It is some distance from the main island, but it made an impression.

Satellite view of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupting, cropped from NASA et alia, (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents)

Eruptions are unpredictable. Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai had erupted throughout its history, and several have occurred since 2009. HT-HH had been making noise for a few weeks more recently, presenting a minor eruption.

The eruption on 15 January 2022 caused tsunamis, the shock wave was heard all the way to Alaska, and Australia and other areas had to deal with ash coming down after being shot into the stratosphere. It even made ripples in Earth's ionosphere. Tonga was essentially cut off from the rest of the world, and harm to the nation has not been fully assessed as of this writing (19 February 2022). It is also a reminder of how volcanoes affect the climate.

Global warming alarmists get all het up about anthropogenic climate change, but since climate models are primarily driven by leftist politics (with information not conforming to their goals ignored or suppressed), carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide (among other gasses) from volcanoes seem to be ignored for the most part. Those bad boys can cause the necessary conditions to warm Earth, and have done so in the past — except when they cool it down.

Keep in mind that most warming alarmists have a naturalistic worldview, which is the same one that gave us Darwinian evolution. There is no God who created everything, no Creator in control, the planet is billions of years old, and pronouncements are made that essentially rebel against the Creator. Whether global climate change or evolution, a prairie schooner-full of guesswork is involved, and many "facts" are not true.

At this point, I'm going to recommend that you set sail over to "Volcanoes Cause Global Warming." Be sure to come back for the next item!

An important aspect of Creation Science models for the Genesis Flood is volcanism, and the eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 and HT-HH in 2022 are reminders of how the Flood led to the Ice Age. It takes more than cooler temperatures and snow to cause an ice age. The volcanic activity around the globe raised the temperature of the oceans, and these details and other combined to cause to the post-Flood Ice Age.

The Tonga and Pinatubo eruptions are reminders that explosive volcanic eruptions are one of the two keys needed to explain the Ice Age. An Ice Age requires cooler summers so that winter ice and snow will not completely melt during the summer months. As more snow and ice are deposited during subsequent winters, thick ice sheets can grow over time. In addition to cooler summers, heavy snowfall is also needed, because sunlight can still melt light snowfall even when temperatures are below freezing.

To read the entire article, click on "The Tonga Volcano Eruption and the Ice Age."