ALBERT

Description: During two cruises wiht RV Sonne, SO234-2 from 8 to 19 July 2014 (Durban, South Africa to Port Louis, Mauritius) and SO235 from 23 July to 7 August 2014 (Port Louis, Mauritius to Malé, Maldives), within the SPACES (Science Partnerships for the Assessment of Complex Earth System Processes) and OASIS (Organic very short-lived Substances and their air sea exchange from the Indian Ocean to the Stratosphere) research projects, surface water samples were sampled from a continuous running pump in the hydrographic shaft of RV Sonne at a depth of 5 m. Deep water samples were taken from a Niskin-bottle rosette sampler. The samples were then analyzed for halogenated compounds using a purge and trap system onboard, which was attached to a gas chromatograph with an electron capture detector for surface water samples and a GC/MS Agilent 5975 for the deep water samples. An analytical reproducibility of 10% was determined from measuring duplicate water samples, detection limit was 0.2 pmol /L. Calibration was performed with several dilutions of a mixed-compound standard prepared in methanol.

Description: Between 1733 and 1895, a total of 35 additional volcanic eruptions were detected in the new high-resolution measurements (D4i dataset: "Greenland ice-core non-sea-salt sulfur concentrations and calculated volcanic sulfate deposition (1733-1900 CE)" (PANGAEA, doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.960977) of the D4 ice core (McConnel et al., 2007). For the same time period only 25 volcanic eruptions had previously been detected using an ice-core array from Greenland (including NEEM-2011-S1 and NGRIP) and Antarctica, making up the eVolv2k database [Toohey and Sigl, 2017]. 21 volcanic events in D4i are found to match events in the eVolv2k database, 8 tropical events and 13 Northern Hemisphere extratropical (NHET) events. Based on linear fits of eVolv2k volcanic stratospheric sulfur injections (VSSI) to the cumulative D4i sulfate deposition rates, we derive scaling factors to convert D4i volcanic sulfate depositions to VSSI. Fits are of high quality with R2 values of 0.91 and 0.99 for tropical and extratropical events, respectively. Of the remaining events identified in D4i but not included in eVolv2k, we find 11 that are tentatively attributable to VEI=4 events listed in the Volcanoes of the World [Global Volcanism Program, 2013] (GVP) database (e.g, Soufriere St. Vincent, and Awu in 1812; Suwanosejima in 1813; Mayon 1814; Raung 1817; Colima 1818). Although attribution is not completely certain, for these events we assume the attribution is correct and use the historically dated eruption date and location from Volcanoes of the World (Global Volcanism Program, 2013). Eruptions found in D4i which do not have a corresponding event in the GVP database could result from a number of scenarios. To avoid a potential bias by attributing these signals to either tropical latitudes (0°) or to NHET latitudes (i.e. 45°N), we represent the forcing by these unidentified events as the probability-weighted superposition of tropical and extratropical eruptions based on the measured sulfate flux. For each event we calculate the VSSI associated with the sulfate deposition assuming on the one hand the event was tropical, and on the other hand assuming it was extratropical. These VSSI values are then multiplied by the probability that the event was either tropical or extratropical, based on the proportion of NHET and tropical events in the Greenland records used in eVolv2k. Each unidentified sulfate deposition is then represented in the VSSI file as two injections, with the same eruption time taken from the ice ice-core dating, and different VSSI amounts for default tropical and extratropical regions. The resulting list of "additional" eruptions not included in eVolv2k is merged with eVolv2k, and the resulting eruption list named eVolv2k plus D4i used as input to the EVA forcing generator [Toohey et al., 2016] to generate time series of stratospheric aerosol optical depth (SAOD).

Description: Based on a set of continuous sulfate records from a suite of ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica, the HolVol v.1.0 database includes estimates of the magnitudes and approximate source latitudes of major volcanic stratospheric sulfur injection (VSSI) events for the Holocene (from 9500 BCE or 11500 year BP to 1900 CE), constituting an extension of the previous record by 7000 years. The database incorporates new-generation ice-core aerosol records with sub-annual temporal resolution and demonstrated sub-decadal dating accuracy and precision. By tightly aligning and stacking the ice-core records on the WD2014 chronology from Antarctica we resolve long-standing previous inconsistencies in the dating of ancient volcanic eruptions that arise from biased (i.e. dated too old) ice-core chronologies over the Holocene for Greenland. A long-term latitudinally and monthly resolved stratospheric aerosol optical depth (SAOD) time series is reconstructed from the HolVol VSSI estimates, representing the first such reconstruction Holocene-scale reconstruction constrained by Greenland and Antarctica ice cores. These new long-term reconstructions of past VSSI and SAOD variability confirm evidence from regional volcanic eruption chronologies (e.g., from Iceland) in showing that the early Holocene (9500-7000 BCE) experienced a higher number of volcanic eruptions (+16%) and cumulative VSSI (+86%) compared to the past 2,500 years. This increase is coinciding with then rapidly retreating ice sheets during deglaciation, providing context for potential future increases of volcanic activity in regions under projected glacier melting in the 21st century.