Mount Pinatubo is located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines at 15.13N latitude and 120.35E longitude. Mount Pinatubo is an active volcano located in the central part of the island. Prior to 1991 Mount Pinatubo stood to a height of 1,745 meters and was studied and said to be inactive. The reason for concluding that Pinatubo was inactive was that it was dormant for some 600 years. A population of about 30,000 people filled the flanks of Pinatubo. In 1991 things changed disproving the earlier studies that found the volcano inactive. It became active once again erupting. The erupting volcano made it mark throwing millions of tons of ash and volcanic material in the air over 50,000 feet high. These eruptions occurred several times during the months of June and July. In 1992 Pinatubo erupted once more but the severity of that eruption wasn't as great as the one in 1991.

In June of 1991 the eruptions of Pinatubo had near global effects on the weather and climate of the earths atmosphere. The materials thrown from the blast of Pinatubo circled the globe in a matter three weeks. The eruption formed a large cloud of ash, aerosols, sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acids and gases. The cloud was then carried through the air from the base of the volcano by the strong winds of typhoon Yunya. These winds pulled the cloud particles southwest towards the equator where they spread more dramatically covering over 40% of the earth's surface. When the sulfur dioxide in the volcanic cloud had combined with sulfuric acid droplets it had created acid rain. The acid rain blocked some of the suns rays from reaching the earth's surface. As a result, the earth experienced a drop in temperature by one degree. This drop of one degree was compared with recorded temperatures 30 years prior to Pinatubo's eruption in 1991. The effects of Pinatubo's eruption were still seen two years later. Satellites orbiting the earth could still track the aerosol deposits left in the air from the eruption. The weather Pinatubo's eruption was also linked to the severe storm damage caused by hurricanes Andrew and Iniki which developed in the fall of 1992. The heavy rains that fell in the Midwest during the summer of 1993, were also believed to be related to Pinatubo's eruption.

Bibliography/ References

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/southeast_asia/philippines/pinatubo.html

http://park.org/Philippines/pinatubo/

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Philippines/Pinatubo/description_pinatubo.html

http://www.spaceimaging.com

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/hazard/stratoguide/pinfact.html