CLEVER Planets recently posted a Twitter story on some sharp swings in climate that Earth has experienced over its billions of years of existence.
Case in point: about half a billion years ago, plants started to creep out of the river beds and aquatic sphere, and migrated up to land.
We all know how plants suck up carbon dioxide, and the loss of carbon in the atmosphere led to an ice age that lasted a whopping hundred million years! Who knew that a humble plant had so much power? 
Not to be outdone, more dramatic events like volcanic eruptions also have an effect on climate. But for all that volcanoes are noisy spectacles commanding hallucinations of light, smoke, and thunder, the consensus over how they actually impact climate in a meaningful way is still out.
For example, volcanic smoke adds gases like carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, heating the Earth…
… while the ash from the volcano can “shade” the planet and cool it – temporarily at least.
Read more thoughts about this interesting topic in a commentary published by a CLEVER Planets researcher, alongside another professor at Rice’s Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Science.
Text, images, animation by Mejs Hasan