The significance of volcanic ash in Greenland ice cores during the Common Era ...

• Main Authors: Plunkett, Gill, Sigl, Michael, McConnell, Joseph R., Pilcher, Jonathan R., Chellman, Nathan J.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier 2023
• Subjects: 530 Physics; 540 Chemistry; 550 Earth sciences & geology; Greenland; Greenland ice cores
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/177778; https://boris.unibe.ch/177778/

Polar ice cores provide long, continuous and well-dated records of past volcanism and have contributed significantly to our understanding of volcanic impacts on climate and society. Sulphate aerosols deposited in the ice are essential for determining the effective radiative forcing potential of past eruptions, but calculations are improved with knowledge of eruption source parameters. Only the co-deposition of volcanic ash can presently confirm the source eruption. Here we review the current state of knowledge regarding the representation of volcanic ash in Common Era ice cores from Greenland and consider what the tephras reveal about the volcanic records in the ice. We augment the published record with a large dataset of previously unreported tephras, the result of a programme of targeted sampling guided by microparticle records that allow us to home in on tephra layers with variable temporal relationships to sulphate aerosol deposition. In addition to revealing the extensive source region of tephra that ...