Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom
The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE triggered a power struggle that ultimately ended the Roman Republic and, eventually, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, leading to the rise of the Roman Empire. Climate proxies and written documents indicate that this struggle occurred during a period of unusually in...
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ftdatacite:10.7892/boris.145066 2023-05-15T15:13:30+02:00 Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom McConnell, Joseph R. Sigl, Michael Plunkett, Gill Burke, Andrea Kim, Woon Mi Raible, Christoph C. Wilson, Andrew I. Manning, Joseph G. Ludlow, Francis Chellman, Nathan J. Innes, Helen M. Yang, Zhen Larsen, Jessica F. Schaefer, Janet R. Kipfstuhl, Sepp Mojtabavi, Seyedhamidreza Wilhelms, Frank Opel, Thomas Meyer, Hanno Steffensen, Jørgen Peder 2020 application/pdf https://dx.doi.org/10.7892/boris.145066 https://boris.unibe.ch/145066/ en eng National Academy of Sciences NAS info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess 550 Earth sciences & geology 530 Physics Text article-journal ScholarlyArticle 2020 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.7892/boris.145066 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE triggered a power struggle that ultimately ended the Roman Republic and, eventually, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, leading to the rise of the Roman Empire. Climate proxies and written documents indicate that this struggle occurred during a period of unusually inclement weather, famine, and disease in the Mediterranean region; historians have previously speculated that a large volcanic eruption of unknown origin was the most likely cause. Here we show using well-dated volcanic fallout records in six Arctic ice cores that one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the past 2,500 y occurred in early 43 BCE, with distinct geochemistry of tephra deposited during the event identifying the Okmok volcano in Alaska as the source. Climate proxy records show that 43 and 42 BCE were among the coldest years of recent millennia in the Northern Hemisphere at the start of one of the coldest decades. Earth system modeling suggests that radiative forcing from this massive, high-latitude eruption led to pronounced changes in hydroclimate, including seasonal temperatures in specific Mediterranean regions as much as 7 °C below normal during the 2 y period following the eruption and unusually wet conditions. While it is difficult to establish direct causal linkages to thinly documented historical events, the wet and very cold conditions from this massive eruption on the opposite side of Earth probably resulted in crop failures, famine, and disease, exacerbating social unrest and contributing to political realignments throughout the Mediterranean region at this critical juncture of Western civilization. Text Arctic Alaska DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Arctic |
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550 Earth sciences & geology 530 Physics |
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550 Earth sciences & geology 530 Physics McConnell, Joseph R. Sigl, Michael Plunkett, Gill Burke, Andrea Kim, Woon Mi Raible, Christoph C. Wilson, Andrew I. Manning, Joseph G. Ludlow, Francis Chellman, Nathan J. Innes, Helen M. Yang, Zhen Larsen, Jessica F. Schaefer, Janet R. Kipfstuhl, Sepp Mojtabavi, Seyedhamidreza Wilhelms, Frank Opel, Thomas Meyer, Hanno Steffensen, Jørgen Peder Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom |
topic_facet |
550 Earth sciences & geology 530 Physics |
description |
The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE triggered a power struggle that ultimately ended the Roman Republic and, eventually, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, leading to the rise of the Roman Empire. Climate proxies and written documents indicate that this struggle occurred during a period of unusually inclement weather, famine, and disease in the Mediterranean region; historians have previously speculated that a large volcanic eruption of unknown origin was the most likely cause. Here we show using well-dated volcanic fallout records in six Arctic ice cores that one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the past 2,500 y occurred in early 43 BCE, with distinct geochemistry of tephra deposited during the event identifying the Okmok volcano in Alaska as the source. Climate proxy records show that 43 and 42 BCE were among the coldest years of recent millennia in the Northern Hemisphere at the start of one of the coldest decades. Earth system modeling suggests that radiative forcing from this massive, high-latitude eruption led to pronounced changes in hydroclimate, including seasonal temperatures in specific Mediterranean regions as much as 7 °C below normal during the 2 y period following the eruption and unusually wet conditions. While it is difficult to establish direct causal linkages to thinly documented historical events, the wet and very cold conditions from this massive eruption on the opposite side of Earth probably resulted in crop failures, famine, and disease, exacerbating social unrest and contributing to political realignments throughout the Mediterranean region at this critical juncture of Western civilization. |
format |
Text |
author |
McConnell, Joseph R. Sigl, Michael Plunkett, Gill Burke, Andrea Kim, Woon Mi Raible, Christoph C. Wilson, Andrew I. Manning, Joseph G. Ludlow, Francis Chellman, Nathan J. Innes, Helen M. Yang, Zhen Larsen, Jessica F. Schaefer, Janet R. Kipfstuhl, Sepp Mojtabavi, Seyedhamidreza Wilhelms, Frank Opel, Thomas Meyer, Hanno Steffensen, Jørgen Peder |
author_facet |
McConnell, Joseph R. Sigl, Michael Plunkett, Gill Burke, Andrea Kim, Woon Mi Raible, Christoph C. Wilson, Andrew I. Manning, Joseph G. Ludlow, Francis Chellman, Nathan J. Innes, Helen M. Yang, Zhen Larsen, Jessica F. Schaefer, Janet R. Kipfstuhl, Sepp Mojtabavi, Seyedhamidreza Wilhelms, Frank Opel, Thomas Meyer, Hanno Steffensen, Jørgen Peder |
author_sort |
McConnell, Joseph R. |
title |
Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom |
title_short |
Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom |
title_full |
Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom |
title_fullStr |
Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom |
title_full_unstemmed |
Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom |
title_sort |
extreme climate after massive eruption of alaska’s okmok volcano in 43 bce and effects on the late roman republic and ptolemaic kingdom |
publisher |
National Academy of Sciences NAS |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.7892/boris.145066 https://boris.unibe.ch/145066/ |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Alaska |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7892/boris.145066 |
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1766344049194696704 |