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, Burke, Andrea, Dunbar, Nelia, Köhler, Peter, Thomas, Jennie, Arienzo, Monica, Chellman, Nathan, Maselli, Olivia, Sigl, Michael, Adkins, Jess, Baggenstos, Daniel, Burkhart, John, Brook, Edward, Buizert, Christo, Cole-Dai, Jihong, Fudge, T. J., Knorr, Gregor, Graf, Hans-F., Grieman, Mackenzie, Iverson, Nels, McGwire, Kenneth, Mulvaney, Robert, Paris, Guillaume, Rhodes, Rachael, Saltzman, Eric, Severinghaus, Jeffrey, Steffensen, Jørgen, Taylor, Kendrick, Winckler, Gisela
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: National Academy of Sciences 2017
• Subjects: F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; Mount Takahe; Takahe; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/37617/; 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.