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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L04708, doi:10.1029/2007GL032450, 2008

New ice core evidence for a volcanic cause of the A.D. 536 dust veil

L. B. Larsen

Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark


B. M. Vinther

Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, U. K.


K. R. Briffa

Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, U. K.


T. M. Melvin

Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, U. K.


H. B. Clausen

Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark


P. D. Jones

Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, U. K.


M.-L. Siggaard-Andersen

Earth and Planetary Physics, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark


C. U. Hammer

Earth and Planetary Physics, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark


M. Eronen

Department of Geology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland


H. Grudd

Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden


B. E. Gunnarson

Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden


R. M. Hantemirov

Laboratory of Dendrochronology, Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg, Russia


M. M. Naurzbaev

Dendroecology Department, Sukachev Institute of Forest, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia


K. Nicolussi

Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria


Abstract

New and well-dated evidence of sulphate deposits in Greenland and Antarctic ice cores indicate a substantial and extensive atmospheric acidic dust veil at A.D. 533–534 ± 2 years. This was likely produced by a large explosive, near equatorial volcanic eruption, causing widespread dimming and contributing to the abrupt cooling across much of the Northern Hemisphere known from historical records and tree-ring data to have occurred in A.D. 536. Tree-ring data suggest that this was the most severe and protracted short-term cold episode across the Northern Hemisphere in the last two millennia, even surpassing the severity of the cold period following the Tambora eruption in 1815.

Received 25 October 2007; accepted 27 December 2007; published 29 February 2008.

Keywords: A.D. 536 cooling; volcanism; climate.

Index Terms: 8408 Volcanology: Volcano/climate interactions (1605, 3309); 1616 Global Change: Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513); 1605 Global Change: Abrupt/rapid climate change (4901, 8408); 4932 Paleoceanography: Ice cores (0724); 4920 Paleoceanography: Dendrochronology.

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Citation: Larsen, L. B., et al. (2008), New ice core evidence for a volcanic cause of the A.D. 536 dust veil, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L04708, doi:10.1029/2007GL032450.