AccuWeather is reporting that “a reduction of airborne dust and volcanic emissions is the main cause of the most recent warming trend in the Atlantic Ocean, according to a study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies.

Greater than two-thirds of this warming trend in recent decades can be attributed to changes in the African dust storm and tropical volcano activity during the period.

According to the EurekAlert release, the researchers combined satellite data of dust and other particles with existing climate models to evaluate the effect on ocean temperature. They calculated how much of the Atlantic warming observed during the last 26 years can be accounted for by concurrent changes in African dust storms and tropical volcanic activity, primarily the eruptions of El Chichon in Mexico in 1982 and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991.”

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