The Relationship between Global Volcanic Activity and Variations in the Velocity of Earth’s Rotation

Abstract

Analysis of observations of the Earth’s rotational velocity and volcanic activity of the planet from 1720 until 2015 suggests that higher volcanic activity temporally coincided with periods of decreased angular velocity of Earth’s rotation (deceleration), and, vice versa, lower volcanic activity coincided with the periods of increased velocity of the Earth’s rotation (acceleration). Our analysis employed the data from the catalog by the Smithsonian Institute, United States, in which each volcanic explosion had its own determined value of the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI). The total number of selected intensive eruptions with VEI ≥ 4 was 160, including 25 eruptions with VEI ≥ 5. At present (beginning from 2006), the Earth is in a deceleration phase and a series of catastrophic eruptions reveals the tendency toward intensifying volcanic activity.