Anomalous sulfur isotope compositions of volcanic sulfate over the last millennium in Antarctic ice cores

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research
• Main Authors: Baroni, Mélanie, Savarino, Joël, Cole-Dai, Jihong, Rai, Vinai K., Thiemens, Mark H.
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement (LGGE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Brookings, South Dakota State University (SDSTATE), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California-University of California, European Science Foundation (ESF) under the EUROCORES Programme EuroCLIMATE, through contract ERAS-CT-2003-980409
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2008
• Subjects: sulfur isotope anomaly; volcanic eruption; ice cores; [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; Antarctic; South Pole; Antarc*; Antarctica; ice core; Ice Sheet; South pole
• Online Access: https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00377933; https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00377933/document; https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00377933/file/2008JD010185.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010185

International audience The reconstruction of past volcanism from glaciological archives is based on the measurement of sulfate concentrations in ice. This method does not allow a proper evaluation of the climatic impact of an eruption owing to the uncertainty in classifying an event between stratospheric or tropospheric. This work develops a new method, using anomalous sulfur isotope composition of volcanic sulfate in order to identify stratospheric eruptions over the last millennium. The advantages and limits of this new method are established with the examination of the 10 largest volcanic signals in ice cores from Dome C and South Pole, Antarctica. Of the 10, seven are identified as stratospheric eruptions. Among them, three have been known to be stratospheric (Tambora, Kuwae, the 1259 Unknown Event) and they exhibit anomalous sulfur isotope compositions. Three unknown events (circa 1277, 1230, 1170 A.D.) and the Serua eruption have been identified as stratospheric eruptions, which suggests for the first time that they could have had significant climatic impact. However, the Kuwae and the 1259 Unknown Event stratospheric eruptions exhibit different anomalous sulfur isotope compositions between South Pole and Dome C samples. Differences in sulfate deposition and preservation patterns between the two sites can help explain these discrepancies. This study shows that the presence of an anomalous sulfur isotope composition of volcanic sulfate in ice core indicates a stratospheric eruption, but the absence of such composition does not necessarily lead to the conclusion of a tropospheric process because of differences in the sulfate deposition on the ice sheet.