Synchronous volcanic eruptions and abrupt climate change ∼17.7 ka plausibly linked by stratospheric ozone depletion

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: McConnell, Joseph R., Burke, Andrea, Dunbar, Nelia W., Köhler, Peter, Thomas, Jennie L., Arienzo, Monica M., Chellman, Nathan J., Maselli, Olivia J., Sigl, Michael, Adkins, Jess F., Baggenstos, Daniel, Burkhart, John F., Brook, Edward J., Buizert, Christo, Cole-Dai, Jihong, Fudge, T. J., Knorr, Gregor, Graf, Hans-F., Grieman, Mackenzie M., Iverson, Nels, McGwire, Kenneth C., Mulvaney, Robert, Paris, Guillaume, Rhodes, Rachael H., Saltzman, Eric S., Severinghaus, Jeffrey P., Steffensen, Jørgen Peder, Taylor, Kendrick C., Winckler, Gisela
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: National Academy of Sciences 2017
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Byrd; Mount Takahe; Takahe; The Antarctic; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; ice core; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44253/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44253/1/10035.full.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1705595114

Significance: Cold and dry glacial-state climate conditions persisted in the Southern Hemisphere until approximately 17.7 ka, when paleoclimate records show a largely unexplained sharp, nearly synchronous acceleration in deglaciation. Detailed measurements in Antarctic ice cores document exactly at that time a unique, ∼192-y series of massive halogen-rich volcanic eruptions geochemically attributed to Mount Takahe in West Antarctica. Rather than a coincidence, we postulate that halogen-catalyzed stratospheric ozone depletion over Antarctica triggered large-scale atmospheric circulation and hydroclimate changes similar to the modern Antarctic ozone hole, explaining the synchronicity and abruptness of accelerated Southern Hemisphere deglaciation. Abstract: Glacial-state greenhouse gas concentrations and Southern Hemisphere climate conditions persisted until ∼17.7 ka, when a nearly synchronous acceleration in deglaciation was recorded in paleoclimate proxies in large parts of the Southern Hemisphere, with many changes ascribed to a sudden poleward shift in the Southern Hemisphere westerlies and subsequent climate impacts. We used high-resolution chemical measurements in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide, Byrd, and other ice cores to document a unique, ∼192-y series of halogen-rich volcanic eruptions exactly at the start of accelerated deglaciation, with tephra identifying the nearby Mount Takahe volcano as the source. Extensive fallout from these massive eruptions has been found >2,800 km from Mount Takahe. Sulfur isotope anomalies and marked decreases in ice core bromine consistent with increased surface UV radiation indicate that the eruptions led to stratospheric ozone depletion. Rather than a highly improbable coincidence, circulation and climate changes extending from the Antarctic Peninsula to the subtropics—similar to those associated with modern stratospheric ozone depletion over Antarctica—plausibly link the Mount Takahe eruptions to the onset of accelerated Southern Hemisphere deglaciation ∼17.7 ka.