Revisiting the 10th‐Century Eldgjá Eruption: Modeling the Climatic and Environmental Impacts
Abstract The 10th‐century Eldgjá eruption in Iceland is the largest basaltic flood lava eruption of the Common Era. However, the extent of its impacts is unclear due to limited historical records. Combining volcanology and ice‐core analyses from both recent and earlier studies, we present a gas emis...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110507 |
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| author | Herman F. Fuglestvedt Imogen Gabriel Michael Sigl Thorvaldur Thordarson Kirstin Krüger |
| author_facet | Herman F. Fuglestvedt Imogen Gabriel Michael Sigl Thorvaldur Thordarson Kirstin Krüger |
| author_sort | Herman F. Fuglestvedt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The 10th‐century Eldgjá eruption in Iceland is the largest basaltic flood lava eruption of the Common Era. However, the extent of its impacts is unclear due to limited historical records. Combining volcanology and ice‐core analyses from both recent and earlier studies, we present a gas emissions scenario for the Eldgjá eruption spanning 937 to 940 CE, co‐injecting volcanic sulfur and halogens. The combined tropospheric and stratospheric sulfur emissions are 3–8 times higher than those adopted for Eldgjá in existing paleoclimate simulations. Earth system modeling of this scenario under pre‐industrial conditions reveals a compound event with maximum northern extratropics surface cooling of ∼2°C in summer‐autumn of 939 and 940 CE, prolonged Arctic sea ice growth, and large‐scale precipitation changes, concurrent with stratospheric ozone depletion and elevated pollution. These results imply that the combined climatic and environmental effects of the Eldgjá eruption may have significantly impacted human populations at the time. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f91bb1f821a34ac698b16184c9e09016 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-f91bb1f821a34ac698b16184c9e090162025-01-20T13:05:57ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072025-01-01521n/an/a10.1029/2024GL110507Revisiting the 10th‐Century Eldgjá Eruption: Modeling the Climatic and Environmental ImpactsHerman F. Fuglestvedt0Imogen Gabriel1Michael Sigl2Thorvaldur Thordarson3Kirstin Krüger4Department of Geosciences University of Oslo Oslo NorwayClimate and Environmental Physics and Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research University of Bern Bern SwitzerlandDepartment of Geosciences University of Oslo Oslo NorwayInstitute of Earth Sciences University of Iceland Reykjavík IcelandDepartment of Geosciences University of Oslo Oslo NorwayAbstract The 10th‐century Eldgjá eruption in Iceland is the largest basaltic flood lava eruption of the Common Era. However, the extent of its impacts is unclear due to limited historical records. Combining volcanology and ice‐core analyses from both recent and earlier studies, we present a gas emissions scenario for the Eldgjá eruption spanning 937 to 940 CE, co‐injecting volcanic sulfur and halogens. The combined tropospheric and stratospheric sulfur emissions are 3–8 times higher than those adopted for Eldgjá in existing paleoclimate simulations. Earth system modeling of this scenario under pre‐industrial conditions reveals a compound event with maximum northern extratropics surface cooling of ∼2°C in summer‐autumn of 939 and 940 CE, prolonged Arctic sea ice growth, and large‐scale precipitation changes, concurrent with stratospheric ozone depletion and elevated pollution. These results imply that the combined climatic and environmental effects of the Eldgjá eruption may have significantly impacted human populations at the time.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110507 |
| spellingShingle | Herman F. Fuglestvedt Imogen Gabriel Michael Sigl Thorvaldur Thordarson Kirstin Krüger Revisiting the 10th‐Century Eldgjá Eruption: Modeling the Climatic and Environmental Impacts Geophysical Research Letters |
| title | Revisiting the 10th‐Century Eldgjá Eruption: Modeling the Climatic and Environmental Impacts |
| title_full | Revisiting the 10th‐Century Eldgjá Eruption: Modeling the Climatic and Environmental Impacts |
| title_fullStr | Revisiting the 10th‐Century Eldgjá Eruption: Modeling the Climatic and Environmental Impacts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Revisiting the 10th‐Century Eldgjá Eruption: Modeling the Climatic and Environmental Impacts |
| title_short | Revisiting the 10th‐Century Eldgjá Eruption: Modeling the Climatic and Environmental Impacts |
| title_sort | revisiting the 10th century eldgja eruption modeling the climatic and environmental impacts |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110507 |
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