The Climate and Societal Response to Three Major Volcanic Eruptions across Northern Latitudes Inferredfrom Tree-Ring Density in Recent Centuries
Abstract
The major volcanic eruptions of the 1690s, 1783 and 1815 had profound climatic and societal impacts (notably famine) in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, respectively, over areas of northern latitudes. Their effects on regional climate varied across space and in intensity: due to location and nature of the eruption, season, prevailing background conditions and a host of other factors. In this poster we illustrate the impacts of these three notorious events using tree-ring density records, a key parameter which is quite sensitive to the warm-season response to volcanic cooling: 1. The severe 1690s cold event, attributed to unknown eruptions in 1693, 1695 and 1698-1699, and adverse impacts on Scotland and vicinity and helped instigate an expedition to Panama to find more favorable conditions for the Scottish population. 2. The 1783 Laki, Iceland event was felt strongly in Alaska, among other locations, with severe cold and famine reported for local native Inuit, but also in Labrador, eastern Canada and areas of Europe and the circus-north Atlantic. NAO-ENSO conditions may also have been unusual at that time. A poisonous SO2 cloud also impacted people and livestock, particularly in northwestern Europe. 3. The Tambora, Indonesia 1815 eruption led to the Year Without a Summer in 1816, when there was record cold and snow in New England. In northeastern Canada, conditions persisted through 1818, with major food shortages. Other events of the past 1-2 millennia, including those in 536 cold episode in Mongolia, and the Huaynaputina, Peru event in 1600, were similarly linked to severe climatic and human impacts in many areas of the globe.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMGC13E1069D
- Keywords:
-
- 0370 Volcanic effects;
- ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTUREDE: 4313 Extreme events;
- NATURAL HAZARDSDE: 8408 Volcano/climate interactions;
- VOLCANOLOGYDE: 8409 Atmospheric effects;
- VOLCANOLOGY