Scientists Uncover Cause of 1831 Global Cooling Event That Triggered Crop Failures, Famines

It’s been nearly 200 years since a global cold snap led to widespread crop failures and devastating famines. [emphasis, links added]

Now, a new study by scientists at the University of St Andrews finally pinpoints the cause.

The Zavaritskii volcano on the remote, uninhabited Russian island of Simushir, part of the Kuril Islands, erupted in 1831, the experts reveal.

The dramatic event injected volcanic ash into the atmosphere, blocking enough sunlight to induce a brief global cooling period.

The resulting change in weather included reduced rainfall from Africa and India to Japan, causing major famine due to poor crop yields.

‘While scientists have long known that a really big eruption went off in 1831, the source has remained a mystery,’ lead study author Dr Will Hutchison told MailOnline.

‘Our chemical fingerprinting of the ash reveals the source of this mysterious climate-changing eruption was this remote volcanic island in the Kurils.’

Zavaritski has not erupted since 1957, but it is still considered an active volcano – meaning it has the potential to erupt again in the future.

In the summer of 1831, a massive volcanic eruption spewed sulfurous gases into the atmosphere, reflecting sunlight and causing a global cooling of about 1.8°F (1°C).

This cold weather, well-documented worldwide at the time, led to ‘significant Northern Hemisphere climate cooling’ causing crop failure and famine, the team says.

Historical observations make reference to a blue, purple, and green sun at various Northern Hemisphere locations in August 1831.

Such phenomena are caused by the scattering and adsorption of solar radiation in a dense aerosol plume typically caused by a volcanic eruption.

Even German composer Felix Mendelssohn wrote about the terrible conditions during his summer journey through the Alps in 1831.

Mendelssohn said: ‘Desolate weather, it has rained again all night and all morning, it is as cold as in winter, there is already deep snow on the nearest hills…’

While scientists knew it was a major event that caused climatic change and societal upheaval, the identity of the volcano responsible remained unknown and fiercely debated – until now.

For the study, Dr. Hutchison and his team analyzed records of ice cores from the polar ice sheets of Greenland, dating back to 1831.

These cylinders of ice are a valuable record of climate conditions at the time of formation, including local temperature, the chemical composition of the atmosphere, and crucially, volcanic activity. …

‘We were able to identify Zavaritski as the source because the magma it produces has a distinctive chemistry, different from the neighboring volcanoes,‘ Dr. Hutchison told MailOnline.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finally solves a nearly 200-year mystery. …

The 1831 eruption was very remote, yet it had a significant global impact on climate and severe consequences for human populations.

However, predicting volcanic eruptions is difficult, even with historical eruption data.

‘This island is uninhabited, no one monitors this volcano, so our work illustrates just how hard it will be for scientists to detect when and where the next big climate eruption will take place,’ added Dr Hutchison.

Images via University of St Andrews

Read full article at Daily Mail