1808 mystery eruption

Volcanic eruption in southwest Pacific June 2020 thumb|Sulfate concentration in ice cores from Greenland, dated by counting oxygen isotope seasonal variations: A large unknown eruption occurred somewhat before the year 1810.Dai Jihong Mosley-Thompson Ellen Thompson Lonnie G. Ice core evidence for an explosive tropical volcanic eruption six years preceding Tambora Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 96 D9 17, 361–17, 366 1991 10.1029/91jd01634 1991JGR....9617361D The peak after 1815 was caused by the Mount Tambora eruption. The 1808 mystery eruption is one or potentially multiple unidentified volcanic eruptions that resulted in a significant rise in stratospheric sulfur aerosols, leading to a period of global cooling analogous to the Year Without a Summer in 1816.Plunkett Gill Sigl Michael McConnell Joseph R. Pilcher Jonathan R. Chellman Nathan J. The significance of volcanic ash in Greenland ice cores during the Common Era Quaternary Science Reviews 301 107936 1 February 2023 0277-3791 2023QSRv..30107936P 181849906 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107936 free Mysterious Volcanic Eruption of 1808 Described https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140918111220.htm Science Daily University of Bristol 26 September 2015 Background Until the 1990s, climatologists considered the known deterioration of the weather in the early 1810s as a normal phenomenon of the Little Ice Age. A 1991 study of Antarctic and Greenland ice cores, however, found a sulfate spike in early 1809, roughly half that of the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora.Dai Jihong Mosley-Thompson Ellen Thompson Lonnie G. 1991 Ice core evidence for an explosive tropical volcanic eruption 6 years preceding Tambora http://doi.wiley.com/10.1029/91JD01634 Journal of Geophysical Research 96 D9 17361 10.1029/91JD01634 1991JGR....9617361D 0148-0227 subscription This faced volcanologists with the problem that this period has no recorded eruptions of the needed magnitude to generate such a spike.Dai Jihong Ellen Mosley-Thompson Lonnie G. Thompson Ice Core Evidence for an Explosive Tropical Volcanic Eruption Six Years Preceding Tambora Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 96 D9 http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/1991/91JD01634.shtml 17,361–17,366 1991 16 December 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20120927014558/http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/1991/91JD01634.shtml 27 September 2012 1991JGR....9617361D 10.1029/91jd01634 subscription Further research and bristlecone pine tree ring data pointed to the eruption being in 1808 rather than early 1809.Salzer Matthew W. Hughes Malcolm K. Bristlecone Pine Tree Rings and Volcanic Eruptions Over the Last 5000 yr Quaternary Research 67 1 57–68 January 2007 2007QuRes..67...57S 14654597 10.1016/j.yqres.2006.07.004January 2026 Initially believed to be a single VEI-6 eruption, emerging evidence suggests that the rise in sulfate concentration and global cooling was likely caused by a series of eruptions, including some minor ones.Yalcin Kaplan Wake Cameron P. Kreutz Karl J. Germani Mark S. Whitlow Sallie I. Ice core evidence for a second volcanic eruption around 1809 in the Northern Hemisphere Geophysical Research Letters 33 14 L14706 2006 0094-8276 10.1029/2006GL026013 2006GeoRL..3314706Y free Location and date Pacific Ocean right Due to reports in Bogotá and Lima, the volcano is conjectured to be between Indonesia and Tonga. Pacific Ocean -5 130 Indonesia top Red pog.svg Pacific Ocean -20 -175 Tonga right Red pog.svg Pacific Ocean 5 285 Bogotá left Red pog.svg Pacific Ocean -12 283 Lima left Red pog.svg Compilations of the geochemistry of tephras found at the corresponding sulfate layer in ice cores indicate multiple eruptions around this time, including a probable Antarctic source, an Alaskan source and an Indonesian source. This led to the possibility that the massive 1809 sulfate spike was generated by a combination of tropical and extra-tropical eruptions occurring in short succession rather than a single large volcanic eruption. The analysis of sulfur isotopes shows a complex time-evolving pattern, suggesting multiple eruptions that caused the 1809 sulfate layer and global cooling, consistent with the presence of different geochemical tephra populations during this period.Will Hutchison; Andrea Burke; Patrick Sugden; Siwan Davies; Michael Sigl (2023). "Re-evaluating the source, style and impacts of the 1800–1835 eruption cluster with new ice core isotope and cryptotephra analyses". PAGES Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society 5th Workshop. The expectation that any eruptions of that magnitude should have been noticed at the time added to the mystery. Records from the time throughout the world were checked but nothing appeared viable until the summer of 2014, when PhD student Alvaro Guevara-Murua and Caroline Williams of the University of Bristol discovered an account of atmospheric events consistent with such an event by Colombian scientist Francisco José de Caldas. Caldas served as Director of the Astronomical Observatory of Bogotá between 1805 and 1810 and in 1809 reported a "transparent cloud that obstructs the sun's brilliance" at Bogotá. It had first been observed by him on 11 December 1808 and was visible across Colombia. The cloud might have been a "dry fog", which is a sulfuric acid (H2SO4) aerosol. Observations of a stratospheric aerosol veil from a tropical volcanic eruption in December 1808: is this the Unknown ~ 1809 eruption? Guevara-Murua A. Williams C. A. Hendy E.J. Rust A.C. Cashman K.V. Katharine Cashman 2014 Climate of the Past 10 5 1707–1722 10.5194/cp-10-1707-2014 2014CliPa..10.1707G https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/ws/files/124748345/cp_10_1707_2014.pdf free He also reported that the weather had been unusually cold, with frosts. To the south, in Peru, physician Hipólito Unanue made similar observations in Lima. These reports led those involved to suggest that the window of the eruption was within seven days of 4 December 1808. Caldas' and Unanue's accounts indicated the existence of a stratospheric aerosol veil spanning at least 2600 km into both northern and southern hemispheres. The only likely source for this would be a tropical volcano, most likely located in the southern hemisphere but not likely further than 20 degrees south latitude. The south-western Pacific Ocean between Indonesia and Tonga is an area in the tropics to the west of Colombia and Peru with candidate volcanoes and with little reporting at that time. This area had no European settlements at the time, and most of the reporting on its volcanic activity goes back only to the mid-19th century, apart from the occasional sighting by passing European explorers.2. Volcano Sightings by European Navigators: 1528–1870, Fire Mountains of the Islands, R Wally Johnson, ANU E Press, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia, 978-1-922144-22-5 (pbk.) 9781922144232 (eBook) The region includes the Rabaul area, which has had VEI 6 eruptions, as well as the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai area which had a VEI 5–6 eruption in 2022.David A. Yuen Melissa A. Scruggs Frank J. Spera Yingcai Zheng Hao Hu Stephen R. McNutt Glenn Thompson Kyle Mandli Barry R. Keller Songqiao Shawn Wei Zhigang Peng 18 March 2022 Under the Surface: Pressure-Induced Planetary-Scale Waves, Volcanic Lightning, and Gaseous Clouds Caused by the Submarine Eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Volcano Provide an Excellent Research Opportunity Earthquake Research Advances Elsevier Article in press 10.1016/j.eqrea.2022.100134 Yuichiro Tanioka Zili Zhou Francesco Mulargia 247550313 free The oral histories of the indigenous populations of these areas report eruptions, but these could not be dated with any degree of certainty.http://www.volcanolive.com/savo.html Savo - Toghavitu Eruption. Retrieved 24 November 2015 Known significant eruptions in 1808 In 1808, there were major eruptions in Urzelina, Azores, on 1–4 May, and in Taal Volcano, Philippines, in March.History of Taal's Activity to 1911 as Described by Fr. Saderra Maso Institut für Mineralogie und Lagerstättenlehre, RWTH Aachen University 1999 Ulrich Knittel http://www.iml.rwth-aachen.de/Petrographie/taal-mas/ta-maso.htm 26 September 2015 1 May 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180501102409/http://www.iml.rwth-aachen.de/Petrographie/taal-mas/ta-maso.htm Neither of these occurred within the correct period for the visual observations. The Chilean Putana volcano also had a major eruption around this time, with an approximate date of 1810 (with a 10-year margin of error), but it is located 22 degrees south and therefore slightly outside the preferred latitude range.http://www.volcanocafe.org/1809-the-missing-volcano/ 1809: The missing volcano www.volcanocafe.org 25 January 2016 24 April 2018 See also 1257 Samalas eruption, previously a mystery eruption 1458 mystery eruption 1452/1453 mystery eruption List of large volcanic eruptions of the 19th century References 30em External links The Hunt for the Unknown Volcano, Discover Magazine May 2015 1809: The missing volcano Category:19th-century volcanic events Category:1808 in science Category:Plinian eruptions Category:VEI-6 eruptions Category:Mystery eruptions