Volcanic dust veils from sixth century tree-ring isotopes linked to reduced irradiance, primary production and human health.

ABSTRACT: The large volcanic eruptions of AD 536 and 540 led to climate cooling and contributed to hardships of Late Antiquity societies throughout Eurasia, and triggered a major environmental event in the historical Roman Empire. Our set of stable carbon isotope records from subfossil tree rings demonstrates a strong negative excursion in AD 536 and 541-544. Modern data from these sites show that carbon isotope variations are driven by solar radiation. A model based on sixth century isotopes reconstruct an irradiance anomaly for AD 536 and 541-544 of nearly three standard deviations below the mean value based on modern data. This anomaly can be explained by a volcanic dust veil reducing solar radiation and thus primary production threatening food security over a multitude of years. We offer a hypot

SUBMITTER: Helama S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5778132 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature