Abstract
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 39,
L02708,
5 PP., 2012
doi:10.1029/2011GL050168
Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks
- Little Ice Age began abruptly in two steps
- Decadally paced explosive volcanism can explain the onset
- A sea-ice/ocean feedback can sustain the abrupt cooling
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Earth System Science Department, University of California, Irvine, California, USA
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Northern Hemisphere summer temperatures over the past 8000 years have been paced by the slow decrease in summer insolation resulting from the precession of the equinoxes. However, the causes of superposed century-scale cold summer anomalies, of which the Little Ice Age (LIA) is the most extreme, remain debated, largely because the natural forcings are either weak or, in the case of volcanism, short lived. Here we present precisely dated records of ice-cap growth from Arctic Canada and Iceland showing that LIA summer cold and ice growth began abruptly between 1275 and 1300 AD, followed by a substantial intensification 1430–1455 AD. Intervals of sudden ice growth coincide with two of the most volcanically perturbed half centuries of the past millennium. A transient climate model simulation shows that explosive volcanism produces abrupt summer cooling at these times, and that cold summers can be maintained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks long after volcanic aerosols are removed. Our results suggest that the onset of the LIA can be linked to an unusual 50-year-long episode with four large sulfur-rich explosive eruptions, each with global sulfate loading >60 Tg. The persistence of cold summers is best explained by consequent sea-ice/ocean feedbacks during a hemispheric summer insolation minimum; large changes in solar irradiance are not required.
Received 29 November 2011; accepted 30 December 2011; published 31 January 2012.
Citation: (2012), Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L02708, doi:10.1029/2011GL050168.
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