A 4100-year record of explosive volcanism from an East Antarctica ice core

Extensive archives of volcanic history are available from ice cores recover ed from the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets that receive and preserve su lfuric acid fallout from explosive volcanic eruptions. The continuous, deta iled (average 1.2 samples per year) sulfate measurements of a 200-m ice cor e from a remote East Antarctica site (plateau Remote) provide a record of S outhern Hemisphere volcanism over the last 4100 years. This extends the vol canic record beyond the last 1000 years covered by previous Antarctic ice c ores. An average of 1.3 eruptions per century is recorded in East Antarctic snow during the last 4100 years. The record shows that on average eruption s have been more frequent and more explosive during the most recent 2000 ye ars than in the previous 2100 years, intervals up to 500 years are observed in which few explosive volcanic signals are detected. These periods includ e 2000-1500 B.C. (no eruptions), 500-1 B.C. (two eruptions), and 700-1200 A .D, (two eruptions). This new Plateau Remote volcanic record is compared wi th those from previous Antarctic ice cores covering the last 1000 years. In terms of dates for volcanic events, the new record is in excellent agreeme nt with the earlier records. However, significant discrepancies are found b etween these records in relative signal magnitude (volcanic flux) of severa l well-known events. The discrepancies among the records may be explained b y the differences in the glaciology at the ice core sites, analytical techn iques used for sulfate and sulfuric acid measurement, ana me selection of d etection thresholds for volcanic signals. Comparison with Greenland ice cor e volcanic records indicates that during the last millennium, nine large, l ow-latitude eruptions contributed significant amounts of volcanic aerosols to the atmosphere of both hemispheres, potentially affecting global climate . In contrast, only one or possibly two such eruptions are found in the fir st millennium A.D.