Two Centuries Ago, a Catastrophic Volcano Eruption Shook the World—Could History Repeat Itself?

These data could also give avenues to identify several volcanic eruptions at close intervals, depending on the study.

The last burst of the little ice age

In August 1831, the Academy of Sciences made public a letter written by the naturalist Léon Dufour, explaining that the sun had become “round and white” and that it was possible to look in front as if it were about The moon. According to other sources, the same atmospheric events have taken place “throughout the south of France”.

As the world ended, these strange conditions would have been perpetuated throughout the northern hemisphere for several months (and one “downtime”). The consequences that ensue are terrible:

• Temperatures have dropped between 0.5 and 1 ° C
• Mosson precipitation in Africa and India have dropped
• In India and Japan, harvests were bad.

According to the explanations of the geophysicists, these consequences are the product of a volcanic eruption. The latter would have “generated sulphated aerosols in the stratosphere ”which would have favored a drop in temperatures highlights the article. This eruption would therefore have been one of the most powerful in the 19th century.

A volcano off the coast of Russia, suspect n ° 1

Until then, the location of the volcano was unknown. However, according to a study published in early January in the Revue Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it would be the Zavaritskii volcano located on the island of Simushir, an area disputed by Japan and Russia. Unexpected candidate, since previously the volcanoes on the list of suspects were close to the equator.

According to Dr. William Hutchison, principal of the study and principal researcher at the Earth and Environment School of Sciences at St. Andrews University in the United Kingdom, scientists generally have a bad understanding of The eruptive history of volcanoes in these kinds of remote places.

“” “[Le volcan] Zavaritskii is located on an extremely isolated island between Japan and Russia. No one lives there and the historical archives are limited to a handful of ships on board of ships that passed through these islands every two or three years”He explains to the CNN media in an email.

The chemical composition of volcano ashes

To achieve this conclusion, researchers have analyzed ice carrots found in Greenland, containing traces of sulfur and volcanic ash. By studying the isotopes of sulfur, scientists discovered that the meal and ash cloud spread to the stratosphere, between 12 and 50 km altitude! Subsequently, the chemical composition of the ashes corresponded most to this volcano.

For William Hutchison, this eruption will remain a mystery on several points. It is notably surprised that it was not reported. “” “Perhaps there are reports on falls of ash or atmospheric phenomena that occurred in 1831 which are in a dusty corner of a library in Russia or Japan. The follow -up work which consists in immersing themselves in these archives really enthuses me”.

Morality: as scientists do not have an excellent visu on volcanoes which are in remote places, it is possible that other eruptions of this type occur, but it is difficult to predict the place and time , according to William Hutchison.