This dataset is associated with the VolcanEESM project led by the project team at the University of Leeds. The project was funded by NCAR/UCAR Atmospheric Chemistry and Modeling Visiting Scientist Program, NCAS, University of Leeds.

The global volcanic sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions database is a combination of available information from the wider literature with as many observations of the amount and location of SO2 emitted by each volcanic eruption as possible. The database includes no information about the size, mass, distribution or optical depth of resulting aerosol. As such the database is model agnostic and it is up to each modeling group to make decisions about how to implement the emission file in their prognostic stratospheric aerosol scheme.

The dataset is divided into two parts based on the availability of satellite data. For the pre-satellite era, the necessary information about the emissions was gathered from the latest ice core records of sulphate deposition in combination historical accounts available in the wider literature (see references included in the database for specific citation for each record). In the satellite era, volcanic emissions were primarily derived from remotely sensed observations.

For the period 1850 CE to 1979 the dataset combined the most recent volcanic sulfate deposition datasets from ice cores with volcanological and, where applicable, petrological estimates of the SO2 mass emitted as well as historical records of large-magnitude volcanic eruptions. In detail, for the majority of eruptions between 1850 CE to 1979 , there are few direct measurement of SO2 emissions or quantitative observations of the plume height and very few measurements of the aerosol optical depth (AOD).

Parameters in the database include:
Day_of_Emission: The 24 hour period in which the emission is thought to have occurred. (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Eruption: Field that contains the Volcano_Number (Which uniquely identifies each volcano in the Global Volcanism Program Database), Volcano_Name (official name from the Global Volcanism Program Database), Notes_and_References (list of notes about the observed parameters and references used to derive each entry). ( Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Latitude: Latitude of each emission from -90 to +90 (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Longitude: Longitude of each emission degrees East (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

VEI: Volcanic Explosively Index of each emission based on Global Volcanism Program Database (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Total_Emission_of_SO2_Tg: Total emission of SO2 in teragram for the specific database entry (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Maximum_Injection_Height_km: Maximum height of each emission in kilometers above sea level. (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Minimum_Injection_Height_km: Minimum height of each emission in kilometers above sea level. (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Month_of_Emission: The month in which the emission is thought to have occurred. (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)

Year_of_Emission: The Year in which the emission is thought to have occurred. (Ordered by the variable Eruption_Number starting with the first eruption in the database.)