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Donovan A, Pfeffer M, Barnie T, Sawyer G, Roberts T, Bergsson B, Ilyinskaya E, Peters N, Buisman I, Snorrason A, Tsanev V, Oppenheimer C. Insights into volcanic hazards and plume chemistry from multi-parameter observations: the eruptions of Fimmvörðuháls and Eyjafjallajökull (2010) and Holuhraun (2014-2015). NATURAL HAZARDS (DORDRECHT, NETHERLANDS) 2023; 119:463-495. [PMID: 37719282 PMCID: PMC10499761 DOI: 10.1007/s11069-023-06114-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/19/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023]
Abstract
The eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010 (including its initial effusive phase at Fimmvörðuháls and its later explosive phase from the central volcano) and Bárðarbunga volcano in 2014-2015 (at Holuhraun) were widely reported. Here, we report on complementary, interdisciplinary observations made of the eruptive gases and lavas that shed light on the processes and atmospheric impacts of the eruptions, and afford an intercomparison of contrasting eruptive styles and hazards. We find that (i) consistent with other authors, there are substantial differences in the gas composition between the eruptions; namely that the deeper stored Eyjafjallajökull magmas led to greater enrichment in Cl relative to S; (ii) lava field SO2 degassing was measured to be 5-20% of the total emissions during Holuhraun, and the lava emissions were enriched in Cl at both fissure eruptions-particularly Fimmvörðuháls; and (iii) BrO is produced in Icelandic plumes in spite of the low UV levels. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11069-023-06114-7.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Donovan
- Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, UK
| | - Melissa Pfeffer
- Icelandic Met Office/Veðurstofa Íslands, Bústaðavegi 7-9, 105 Reykjavík, Iceland
| | - Talfan Barnie
- Icelandic Met Office/Veðurstofa Íslands, Bústaðavegi 7-9, 105 Reykjavík, Iceland
| | | | - Tjarda Roberts
- Laboratoire de Physique et de Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace, CNRS, Université d’Orléans, Orléans, France
- Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, IPSL, CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Sorbonne Université, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Baldur Bergsson
- Icelandic Met Office/Veðurstofa Íslands, Bústaðavegi 7-9, 105 Reykjavík, Iceland
| | | | - Nial Peters
- Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University College London, Gower Street, London, UK
| | - Iris Buisman
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, UK
| | - Arní Snorrason
- Icelandic Met Office/Veðurstofa Íslands, Bústaðavegi 7-9, 105 Reykjavík, Iceland
| | - Vitchko Tsanev
- Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, UK
| | - Clive Oppenheimer
- Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, UK
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Guillet S, Corona C, Oppenheimer C, Lavigne F, Khodri M, Ludlow F, Sigl M, Toohey M, Atkins PS, Yang Z, Muranaka T, Horikawa N, Stoffel M. Lunar eclipses illuminate timing and climate impact of medieval volcanism. Nature 2023; 616:90-95. [PMID: 37020006 PMCID: PMC10076221 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05751-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2021] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 04/07/2023]
Abstract
Explosive volcanism is a key contributor to climate variability on interannual to centennial timescales1. Understanding the far-field societal impacts of eruption-forced climatic changes requires firm event chronologies and reliable estimates of both the burden and altitude (that is, tropospheric versus stratospheric) of volcanic sulfate aerosol2,3. However, despite progress in ice-core dating, uncertainties remain in these key factors4. This particularly hinders investigation of the role of large, temporally clustered eruptions during the High Medieval Period (HMP, 1100-1300 CE), which have been implicated in the transition from the warm Medieval Climate Anomaly to the Little Ice Age5. Here we shed new light on explosive volcanism during the HMP, drawing on analysis of contemporary reports of total lunar eclipses, from which we derive a time series of stratospheric turbidity. By combining this new record with aerosol model simulations and tree-ring-based climate proxies, we refine the estimated dates of five notable eruptions and associate each with stratospheric aerosol veils. Five further eruptions, including one responsible for high sulfur deposition over Greenland circa 1182 CE, affected only the troposphere and had muted climatic consequences. Our findings offer support for further investigation of the decadal-scale to centennial-scale climate response to volcanic eruptions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sébastien Guillet
- Climate Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene (C-CIA), Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Christophe Corona
- Climate Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene (C-CIA), Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- GEOLAB, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | | | - Franck Lavigne
- Laboratoire de Géographie Physique, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Thiais, France
| | - Myriam Khodri
- Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat: Expérimentations et Approches Numériques, IPSL, Sorbonne Université/IRD/CNRS/MNHN, Paris, France
| | - Francis Ludlow
- Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities, Department of History, School of Histories & Humanities, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Michael Sigl
- Climate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Matthew Toohey
- Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
| | - Paul S Atkins
- Department of Asian Languages & Literature, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Zhen Yang
- Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities, Department of History, School of Histories & Humanities, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Tomoko Muranaka
- Climate Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene (C-CIA), Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Nobuko Horikawa
- Department of Asian Languages & Literature, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Markus Stoffel
- Climate Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene (C-CIA), Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department F.-A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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Plunkett G, Swindles GT. Bucking the trend: Population resilience in a marginal environment. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0266680. [PMID: 35476782 PMCID: PMC9045639 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2021] [Accepted: 03/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Evaluating the impact of environmental changes on past societies is frequently confounded by the difficulty of establishing cause-and-effect at relevant scales of analysis. Commonly, paleoenvironmental records lack the temporal and spatial resolution to link them with historic events, yet there remains a tendency to correlate climate change and cultural transformations on the basis of their seeming synchronicity. Here, we challenge perceptions of societal vulnerability to past environmental change using an integrated paleoenvironmental and land-use history of a remote upland site in the north of Ireland. We present a high-resolution, multi-proxy record that illustrates extended occupation of this marginal locality throughout the climate oscillations of the last millennium. Importantly, historically-dated volcanic ash markers enable us to pinpoint precisely in our record the timing of major national demographic crises such as the Black Death and the European, Irish and Great (Potato) Famines. We find no evidence that climate downturns or demographic collapses had an enduring impact on the use of the uplands: either the community escaped the effects of these events, or population levels recovered rapidly enough (within a generation) to leave no appreciable mark on the palaeoenvironmental record. Our findings serve to illustrate the spatial complexity of human activity that can enable communities to withstand or quickly bounce back from largescale calamities. In neglecting to consider such local-scale variability in social and economic organization, generalized models of societal collapse risk overplaying the vulnerability of populations to long- and short-term ecological stressors to the detriment of identifying the social constraints that influence a population’s response to change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gill Plunkett
- Archaeology & Palaeoecology: School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Graeme T. Swindles
- Geography: School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
- Ottawa‐Carleton Geoscience Centre and Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Climatic and societal impacts of a "forgotten" cluster of volcanic eruptions in 1108-1110 CE. Sci Rep 2020; 10:6715. [PMID: 32317759 PMCID: PMC7174372 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-63339-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2018] [Accepted: 03/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Recently revised ice core chronologies for Greenland have newly identified one of the largest sulfate deposition signals of the last millennium as occurring between 1108 and 1113 CE. Long considered the product of the 1104 CE Hekla (Iceland) eruption, this event can now be associated with substantial deposition seen in Antarctica under a similarly revised chronology. This newly recognized bipolar deposition episode has consequently been deemed to reveal a previously unknown major tropical eruption in 1108 CE. Here we show that a unique medieval observation of a “dark” total lunar eclipse attests to a dust veil over Europe in May 1110 CE, corroborating the revised ice-core chronologies. Furthermore, careful evaluation of ice core records points to the occurrence of several closely spaced volcanic eruptions between 1108 and 1110 CE. The sources of these eruptions remain unknown, but we propose that Mt. Asama, whose largest Holocene eruption occurred in August 1108 CE and is credibly documented by a contemporary Japanese observer, is a plausible contributor to the elevated sulfate in Greenland. Dendroclimatology and historical documentation both attest, moreover, to severe climatic anomalies following the proposed eruptions, likely providing the environmental preconditions for subsistence crises experienced in Western Europe between 1109 and 1111 CE.
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Izdebski A, Mordechai L, White S. The Social Burden of Resilience: A Historical Perspective. HUMAN ECOLOGY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL 2018; 46:291-303. [PMID: 29997408 PMCID: PMC6015616 DOI: 10.1007/s10745-018-0002-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
We examine the social burden associated with resilience to environmental shocks in pre-modern societies. We argue that analyses of state-level interventions to mitigate the consequences of catastrophic events tend to isolate these measures from their larger social contexts and thereby overlook the uneven distribution of their burden across different groups. We use three cases of pre-modern societies in the northeastern Mediterranean - the sixth century Roman Empire, the tenth century Byzantine Empire, and the sixteenth century Ottoman Empire. We demonstrate how the adaptive processes that reinforced resilience at the state level incurred different burdens for those at lower levels of the social hierarchy. We found that some groups sustained losses while others gained unexpected benefits in the context of temporary systemic instability. We also found that although elites enjoyed enhanced buffers against the adverse effects in comparison with non-elites, this did not consistently guarantee them a better outcome. We conclude that the differentiated burden of resilience could in some cases entrench existing political or economic configurations, and in other cases, overturn them. Our case studies indirectly address the pressing issue of environmental justice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Izdebski
- Institute of History, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, ul, Golebia 13, 31-007 Krakow, Poland
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Str. 10, Jena, 07745 Germany
| | - Lee Mordechai
- Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN USA
| | - Sam White
- Department of History, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH USA
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