Climatic, weather, and socio-economic conditions corresponding to the mid-17th-century eruption cluster
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Published:2022-05-20
Issue:5
Volume:18
Page:1083-1108
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ISSN:1814-9332
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Container-title:Climate of the Past
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Clim. Past
Author:
Stoffel MarkusORCID, Corona ChristopheORCID, Ludlow FrancisORCID, Sigl MichaelORCID, Huhtamaa HeliORCID, Garnier Emmanuel, Helama SamuliORCID, Guillet Sébastien, Crampsie Arlene, Kleemann KatrinORCID, Camenisch ChantalORCID, McConnell JosephORCID, Gao ChaochaoORCID
Abstract
Abstract. The mid-17th century is characterized by a cluster
of explosive volcanic eruptions in the 1630s and 1640s, climatic conditions
culminating in the Maunder Minimum, and political instability and
famine in regions of western and northern Europe as well as China and Japan. This contribution investigates the sources of the eruptions of the 1630s and 1640s and their possible impact on contemporary climate using ice core, tree-ring, and historical evidence but will also look into the
socio-political context in which they occurred and the human responses they
may have triggered. Three distinct sulfur peaks are found in the Greenland
ice core record in 1637, 1641–1642, and 1646. In Antarctica, only one
unambiguous sulfate spike is recorded, peaking in 1642. The resulting
bipolar sulfur peak in 1641–1642 can likely be ascribed to the eruption of
Mount Parker (6∘ N, Philippines) on 26 December 1640, but sulfate
emitted from Komaga-take (42∘ N, Japan) volcano on 31 July 1641
has potentially also contributed to the sulfate concentrations observed in
Greenland at this time. The smaller peaks in 1637 and 1646 can be
potentially attributed to the eruptions of Hekla (63∘ N, Iceland)
and Shiveluch (56∘ N, Russia), respectively. To date, however,
none of the candidate volcanoes for the mid-17th century sulfate peaks
have been confirmed with tephra preserved in ice cores. Tree-ring and
written sources point to cold conditions in the late 1630s and early 1640s
in various parts of Europe and to poor harvests. Yet the early 17th
century was also characterized by widespread warfare across Europe – and in particular the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) – rendering any attribution of socio-economic crisis to volcanism challenging. In China and Japan, historical sources point to extreme droughts and famines starting in 1638 (China) and 1640 (Japan), thereby preceding the eruptions of Komaga-take (31 July 1640) and Mount Parker (4 January 1641). The case of the eruption
cluster between 1637 and 1646 and the climatic and societal conditions
recorded in its aftermath thus offer a textbook example of difficulties in
(i) unambiguously distinguishing volcanically induced cooling, wetting, or
drying from natural climate variability and (ii) attributing political
instability, harvest failure, and famines solely to volcanic climatic
impacts. This example shows that while the impacts of past volcanism must
always be studied within the contemporary socio-economic contexts, it is
also time to move past reductive framings and sometimes reactionary
oppositional stances in which climate (and environment more broadly) either
is or is not deemed an important contributor to major historical events.
Funder
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Subject
Paleontology,Stratigraphy,Global and Planetary Change
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