Center for Catholic Education. Michael Graham, S.J., Xavier's President, has committed the University to engaging students intellectually, morally, and spiritually - with rigor and compassion - toward lives of solidarity, service, and success. This is Xavier's Catholic and Jesuit identity and heritage.
On Saturday, Japan's Mount Ontake volcano erupted without warning, surprising several hundred nearby hikers. Plumes of volcanic gas and ash overtook the fleeing hikers and buried nearby lodges and outbuildings. Though most of the people on Mount Ontake that day were able to escape.
Gases and solids injected into the stratosphere circled the globe for three weeks. Volcanic eruptions of this magnitude can impact global climate, reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface, lowering temperatures in the troposphere, and changing atmospheric circulation patterns.ajor eruptions alter the Earth's radiative balance because volcanic aerosol clouds absorb terrestrial radiation, and scatter a significant amount of the incoming solar radiation, an effect known as radiative forcing that can last from two to three years following a volcanic eruption.