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Scientists have solved a 200-year-old mystery about the site of a massive volcanic eruption that spewed out so much gas that it blocked out sunlight, making the sun appear blue.
The 1831 volcanic eruption released copious amounts of sunlight-reflecting sulfur gases and caused a global cooling of about 1°C, leading to crop failures and devastating famines around the world.
Historical records indicate gloomy weather during this period, with people in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere documenting the sun’s strange appearance in various colors, including blue, purple, and green.
This effect is caused by the scattering and absorption of solar radiation in the dense volcanic aerosol plume.
While scientists knew that the major climate event reported during this period was due to volcanic activity, the exact identity and location of the volcano remained a mystery – until now.
A new study published in the journal With people It found that the Zavaritsky volcano on the remote, uninhabited island of Simoshir – now a disputed territory between Russia and Japan – was behind the massive eruption.
Russia now controls the island as a strategic military outpost.
In the study, scientists from the University of St Andrews analyzed ice core records from the 1831 event.
“The moment in the lab when we analyzed the two ash together, one from the volcano and one from the ice core, was a real eureka moment,” Will Hutchison, a co-author of the study, said in a statement.
The researchers said they identified a “perfect fingerprint match” of ash deposits found in the ice cores with samples collected from Zavaritsky volcano.
“We analyzed the chemistry of the ice with very high temporal resolution. This allowed us to pinpoint the exact timing of the eruption to the spring and summer of 1831, confirm that it was highly explosive, and then extract small ash fragments,” Dr. Hutchison said.
“Only in recent years have we developed the ability to extract microscopic ash fragments from polar ice cores and perform detailed chemical analyses. These fragments are incredibly fine, about one-tenth the diameter of a human hair.
The results reveal the island’s position as a poorly studied but highly productive volcanic area.
It also highlights the need to identify the sources of more of these mysterious explosions from the past.
Scientists pointed out that although the Zavaritsky volcano is remote, its eruption still has a significant global impact on climate with serious consequences for humans.
“There are a lot of volcanoes like this, which highlights how difficult it is to predict when or where the next large-scale eruption will occur,” Dr Hutchison said.
“As scientists and as a society, we need to consider how to coordinate an international response when the next major eruption, such as the one in 1831, occurs.”