Temperature anomaly event caused by a volcanic eruption
The conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid, which condenses rapidly in the stratosphere to form fine sulfate aerosols.
Avolcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by droplets ofsulfuric acid obscuring theSun and raisingEarth'salbedo (increasing the reflection of solar radiation) after a large, sulfur-rich, particularly explosivevolcanic eruption. Climate effects are primarily dependent upon the amount of injection ofSO2 andH2S into thestratosphere where they react withOH and H2O to form H2SO4 on a timescale of a week, and the resulting H2SO4 aerosols produce the dominant radiative effect. Volcanic stratospheric aerosols cool the surface byreflecting solar radiation and warm the stratosphere by absorbing terrestrial radiation for several years. Moreover, the cooling trend can be further extended by atmosphere–ice–ocean feedback mechanisms. These feedbacks can continue to maintain the cool climate long after the volcanic aerosols have dissipated.
An explosive volcanic eruption releasesmagma materials in the form ofvolcanic ash and gases into the atmosphere. While most volcanic ash settles to the ground within a few weeks after the eruption, impacting only the local area for a short duration, the emitted SO2 can lead to the formation of H2SO4 aerosols in the stratosphere.[1][2] These aerosols can circle the hemisphere of the eruption source in a matter of weeks and persist with ane-folding decay time of about a year. As a result, they have a radiative impact that can last for several years.[3]
The subsequent dispersal of a volcanic cloud in the stratosphere and its impact on climate are strongly influenced by several factors, including the season of the eruption,[4] thelatitude of the source volcano,[5] and the injection height.[6] If the SO2 injection height remains confined to the troposphere, the resulting H2SO4 aerosols have a residence time of only a few days due to efficient removal through precipitation.[6] The lifetime of H2SO4 aerosols resulting from extratropical eruptions is shorter compared to those from tropical eruptions, due to a longer transport path from the tropics to removal across the mid- or high-latitudetropopause, but extratropical eruptions strengthens the hemispheric climate impact by confining the aerosol to a single hemisphere.[5] Injections in the winter are also much less radiatively efficient than injections during the summer for high-latitude volcanic eruptions, when the removal of stratospheric aerosols in polar regions is enhanced.[4]
Surface temperature observations following historic eruptions show that there is no correlation between eruption size, as represented by theVEI or eruption volume, and the severity of the climate cooling. This is because eruption size does not correlate with the amount of SO2 emitted.[10]
It has been proposed that the cooling effects of volcanic eruptions can extend beyond the initial several years, lasting for decades to possibly even millennia. This prolonged impact is hypothesized to be a result of positive feedback mechanisms involving ice and ocean dynamics, even after the H2SO4 aerosols have dissipated.[11][12][13]
During the first few years following a volcanic eruption, the presence of H2SO4 aerosols can induce a significant cooling effect. This cooling can lead to a widespread lowering ofsnowline, enabling the rapid expansion ofsea ice,ice caps andcontinental glacier. As a result,ocean temperatures decrease, and surface albedo increases, further reinforcing the expansion of sea ice, ice caps, and glacier. These processes create a strong positive feedback loop, allowing the cooling trend to persist over centennial-scale or even longer periods of time.[12]
Timescales of various volcanic cooling mechanisms on climate
The weathering of a sufficiently large volume of rapidly erupted volcanic materials has been proposed as an important factor in Earth'ssilicate weathering cycle, which operates on a timescale of tens of millions of years.[20] During this process, weatheredsilicate minerals react with carbon dioxide and water, resulting in the formation ofmagnesium carbonate andcalcium carbonate. These carbonates are then removed from the atmosphere andsequestrated on the ocean floor. The eruption of a large volume of volcanic materials canenhance weathering processes, thereby lowering atmospheric CO2 levels and contributing to global temperature reduction.
The rapid emplacement ofmaficlarge igneous provinces has the potential to cause a swift decline in atmospheric CO2 content, leading to a multi-million-year-longicehouse climate.[21][22] A notable example is theSturtian glaciation,[a] which is considered the most severe and widespread known glacial event in Earth's history. This glaciation is believed to have been caused by the weathering of eruptedFranklin Large Igneous Province.[22][23]
Tree-ring-based temperature reconstructions, historical records of dust veils, andice cores studies have confirmed that some of the coldest years during the last five millennia were directly caused by massive volcanic injections of SO2.[24][25]
Northern Hemisphere coolings are observed following major volcanic eruptions, and temperatures are reconstructed from tree-ring data.[26][27]
Hemispheric temperature anomalies resulting from volcanic eruptions have primarily been reconstructed based on tree-ring data for the pasttwo millennia.[b][27][28][29][30] For earlier periods in theHolocene, the identification of frost rings that coincide with large ice core sulfate spikes serves as an indicator of severe volcanic winters.[c][31] The quantification of volcanic coolings further back in time during theLast Glacial Period is made possible by annually resolvedδ18O records.[d][32]This is a non-exhaustive compilation of notable and consequential coolings that have been definitively attributed to volcanic aerosols, although the source volcanos of the aerosols are rarely identified.
Northern Hemisphere cooling episodes definitively attributed to volcanic eruptions
During the Last Glacial Period, volcanic coolings comparable to the largest volcanic coolings during the Common Era (e.g. Tambora, Samalas) are inferred based on the magnitudes of δ18O anomalies.[36] In particular, in the period 12,000–32,000 years ago, the peak δ18O cooling anomaly of the eruptions exceeds the anomaly after the largest eruptions in the Common Era.[37] One Last Glacial Period eruption that have gained significant attention is the eruption of the Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT), which has sparked vigorous debates regarding its climate effects.
The eruption of YTT fromToba Caldera, 74,000 years ago, is regarded as the largest knownQuaternary eruption[38] and two orders of magnitude greater than the magma volume of the largest historical eruption, Tambora.[39] The exceptional magnitude of this eruption has prompted sustained debate as to its global and regional impact on climate.
Sulfate concentration and isotope measurements from polar ice cores taken around the time of 74,000 years BP have identified four atmospheric aerosol events that could potentially be attributed to YTT.[40] The calculated stratospheric sulfate loadings for these four events range from 219 to 535 million tonnes, which is 1 to 3 times greater than that of the Samalas eruption in 1257 CE.[41] Global climate models simulate peak global mean cooling of 2.3 to 4.1 K for this amount of erupted sulfate aerosols, and complete temperature recovery does not occur within 10 years.[42]
Empirical evidence for cooling induced by YTT, however, is mixed. YTT coincides with the onset of Greenland Stadial 20 (GS-20), which is characterized by a 1,500-year cooling period.[43] GS-20 is considered the most isotopically extreme[44] and coldest stadial,[45] as well as having the weakest Asianmonsoon,[46] in the last 100,000 years. This timing has led some to speculate on the relation between YTT and GS-20.[47][48] The stratigraphic position of YTT in relation to the GS-20 transition suggests that the stadial would have occurred without YTT, as the cooling was already underway.[49][50] There is the possibility that YTT contributed to the extremity of GS-20.[50][51] TheSouth China Sea shows a 1 K cooling over 1,000 years following the deposition of YTT,[52] while theArabian Sea shows no discernible impact.[53] In India and theBay of Bengal, initial cooling and prolonged desiccation are observed above the YTT ash layer,[45] but it is argued that these environmental changes were already occurring prior to YTT.[54]Lake Malawi sediments do not provide evidence supporting a volcanic winter within a few years after the eruption of YTT,[55][56][57] but the resolution of the sediments is questioned due to sediment mixing.[58] Directly above the YTT layer in Lake Malawi, there is evidence of a 2,000-year-longmegadrought and cooling period.[59] Greenland ice cores identify a 110-year period of accelerated cooling immediately following what is likely the YTT aerosol event.[60]
The enhanced weathering of continental flood basalts, which erupted just prior to the onset of theSturtian glaciation at 717 million years ago, is recognized as the trigger for the most severe glaciation in Earth's history.[23][22][21] During this period, Earth's surface temperatures dropped below the freezing point of water everywhere,[61] and ice rapidly advanced from low latitudes to theequator, covering a worldwide extent.[62] This glaciation lasted almost 60 million years, from 717 to 659 million years ago.[63]
Geochronology dates the rapid emplacement of 5,000,000 km2 (1,900,000 mi2) Franklin large igneous province just 1 million year before the onset of Sturtian glaciation.[23] Multiple large igneous provinces on the scale of 1,000,000 km2 (390,000 mi2) were also emplaced onRodinia between 850 and 720 million years ago.[64][65] Weathering of massive amount of fresh mafic materials initiated runaway cooling and ice-albedo feedback after 1 million year. Chemical isotopic compositions show a massive flux of weathered freshly erupted materials entering the ocean, coinciding with the eruptions of large igneous provinces.[66][67] Simulations demonstrate that the increased weatherability led to drop in atmospheric CO2 of the order of 1,320 ppm and an 8 K cooling of global temperatures, triggering the most extraordinary episode of climate change in the geologic record.[68]
Population bottlenecks—a sharp decrease in the population of aspecies population—have been attributed to volcanic winters by some researchers. Such events may diminish populations to "levels low enough for evolutionary changes, which occur much faster in small populations, to produce rapid population differentiation".[69] With the Lake Toba bottleneck, many species showed the massive genetic effects of this decrease in the gene pool; Toba may have reduced the human population to between 15,000 and 40,000, or even fewer.[69]
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