Previous Animation Next Animation Mt. Pinatubo Eruption on June 15, 1991 The second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, and by far the largest eruption to affect a densely populated area, occurred at Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines on June 15, 1991. The eruption produced high-speed avalanches of hot ash and gas, giant mudflows, and a cloud of volcanic ash hundreds of miles across. This animation shows the ozone measurements around Mt Pinatubo reacting to the eruption. That "hole" in the days immediately following the eruption of Pinatubo is due to interference by sulfur dioxide with the retrieval algorithm. There are high amounts of volcanic SO2 in the initial plume from the eruption. These measurements make it look like there was an ozone hole when there was not. Ozone really did decrease in the equatorial zone after the volcanic cloud spread throughout the equatorial zone over the next year or so. Plots of global average ozone show a clear minimum in the two years after the eruption. But that "hole" on June 20th for instance is sulfur dioxide, not an ozone hole.    Mt. Pinatubo Eruption caused Equatorial Ozone Hole Duration: 4.0 seconds Available formats:   320x240 (30 fps) MPEG-1   587 KB   160x80       PNG           28 KB   80x40         PNG           8 KB   320x240     JPEG         51 KB   720x486 (29.97 fps) Frames   320x240 (30 fps) X-FLV       177 KB   720x480 (29.97 fps) MPEG       271 GB How to play our movies    Normal Equatorial Ozone Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   204 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     52 KB    June 16, 1991 : One day after Mt Pinatubo erupted Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   251 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     53 KB    June 17, 1991 Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   250 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     53 KB    June 18, 1991 Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   250 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     53 KB    June 19, 1991 Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   252 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     53 KB    June 20, 1991 Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   254 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     54 KB    June 21, 1991 Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   254 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     54 KB    June 21, 1991 Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   254 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     54 KB    June 23, 1991 Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   254 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     54 KB    June 24, 1991 Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   253 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     54 KB    June 25, 1991 Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   253 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     53 KB    August 31, 1991 Subtle equatorial ozone decrease seen in blue Available formats:   720 x 486         TIFF   211 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     53 KB    Color Bar Available formats:   320 x 100         JPEG       6 KB    Video slate image reads, "Mt. Pinatubo Eruption effect on Equatorial ozone". Available formats:   720 x 528         JPEG 34 MB   320 x 234         PNG 53 MB Animation Number: 2183 Completed: 2001-06-18 Animator: Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC) (Lead) Scientists: Richard McPeters (NASA/GSFC)   Jay Herman (NASA/GSFC) Platforms/Sensors/Data Sets: Nimbus-7/TOMS   Nimbus-7/TOMS/Ozone Data Collected: 1991/06/16 - 1991/06/30 Series: Mt. Pinatubo Video: SVS2001-0021 * Keywords: DLESE >> Atmospheric science SVS >> Mt. Pinatubo DLESE >> Natural hazards SVS >> Ozone SVS >> Volcano     Please give credit for this item to: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio *Please note: the SVS does not fulfill requests for copies of the tapes in our library. On some of our animation pages, there is a direct link to a video distribution service from which tapes, handled by the Public Affairs Office (PAO)/Goddard TV, including some of our animations may be ordered. General information on this service can be found here. Back to Top

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