since 2000.

Sulphuric droplets disgorged by the volcanoes reflected sunlight and slightly cool the lower atmosphere, they said.

The effect of these "aerosols" accounted for as much as 15 percent of the gap between expected and measured temperatures between 1998 and 2012, according to the team's figures.

"The 'warming hiatus' since 1998 has a number of different causes," study co-author Ben Santer of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California told AFP by email.

"The cooling caused by early 21st century volcanic eruptions is one of the causes."

Other explanations for the "hiatus" have been a bigger-than-expected takeup of atmospheric heat by the ocean, or a decline in solar activity.

Blockbuster eruptions, notably that of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, were known to have discernible cooling effects on Earth's surface.

But volcanoes havevoter turnout rather than ballot security activities, and Rob Gleason submitted a

declaration that he was acting in his capacity as Chair of the Pennsylvania State

Republican Party, not as a member of the RNC.20

       The DNC additionally asserts that the District Court erred in not allowing them to

depose Nevada poll watchers and a representative from Stampede. The District Court had

good reason for not permitting the depositions. The District Court was provided with a

declaration that stated that the RNC had no poll-watching operation in Nevada, and

discovery revealed that Stampede was performing permissible, non-ballot security work

in Florida and no services for the RNC in Nevada. The District Court also had evaluated

information presented to it concerning the DNC's need for a document demand for

communications between the