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: Text
• Language: English
• Published: National Academy of Sciences 2017
• Subjects: Physical Sciences; Antarctic; Mount Takahe; Takahe; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5617275/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28874529; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1705595114

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.