Research Article
Responses of large volcanic eruptions in the instrumental and documentary climatic data over Central Europe
Jan Písek,
Rudolf Brázdil,
Corresponding Author
Jan Písek
University of Toronto, Department of Geography and Program in Planning, 100 St George St, Room 5047 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3, Canada
University of Toronto, Department of Geography and Program in Planning, 100 St George St, Room 5047 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorRudolf Brázdil
Masaryk University, Institute of Geography, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, The Czech Republic
Search for more papers by this author
Jan Písek,
Rudolf Brázdil,
Corresponding Author
Jan Písek
University of Toronto, Department of Geography and Program in Planning, 100 St George St, Room 5047 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3, Canada
University of Toronto, Department of Geography and Program in Planning, 100 St George St, Room 5047 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorRudolf Brázdil
Masaryk University, Institute of Geography, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, The Czech Republic
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Responses of large volcanic eruptions in selected long temperature series from Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany as well as in three global radiation series in Central Europe are studied. In the example of seven large tropical eruptions (Krakatau 1883; Pelée, Soufriére and Santa María 1902; Agung, 1963; El Chichón, 1982; Mt Pinatubo, 1991) it has been demonstrated that volcanic signal in regional series is not so strongly expressed as in the hemispheric scale owing to different local effects and circulation patterns. This is also valid in the case of two further discussed eruptions of Tambora (1815) and Katmai (1912). The responses of eruptions in areas closer to Central Europe such as Iceland or Italy are more important. In nine analysed cases with VEI = 4–5 with a single exception of the Hekla eruption (1917), cold seasons were observed to follow the eruption. Responses to the Lakagígar eruption (1783) of Iceland with important impacts are also discussed in detail. Moreover, correlation between temperatures (annual and winter half-year series) and NAOI is prevailingly smaller for the period following eruptions than in the period preceding eruptions. The importance of documentary evidence as a valuable source of the information about the impacts of volcanic eruptions is demonstrated. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society.
REFERENCES
- Adams JB, Mann ME, Ammann CM. 2003. Proxy evidence for an El Niño-like response to volcanic forcing. Nature 426: 274–278. DOI: 10.1038/nature02101.
- Adeyefa ZD, Holmgren B, Adedokun JA. 2000. Spectral solar irradiance in northern Scandinavia before and after Pinatubo. Atmósfera 13: 133–146.
- Ammann CM, Meehl GA, Washington WM, Zender CS. 2003. A monthly and latitudinally varying volcanic forcing dataset in simulations of 20th century climate. Geophysical Research Letters 30: 59-1–59-4, DOI: 1029/2003GL016875.
- Angell JK. 1997a. Estimated impact of Agung, El Chichón, and Pinatubo volcanic eruptions on global and regional total ozone after adjustment for the QBO. Geophysical Research Letters 24: 647–650.
- Angell JK. 1997b. Stratospheric warming due to Agung, El Chichón, and Pinatubo taking into account the quasi-biennial Oscillation. Journal of Geophysical Research 102: 9479–9485.
- Auer I, Böhm R, Schöner W. 2001. Austrian Long-term Climate 1767–2000—Multiple Instrumental Climate Time Series from Central Europe. Österreichische Beiträge zu Meteorologie und Geophysik 25: Wien.
- Bachmann J. 1912. Aufzeichnungen eines Alt-Leitmeritzers. Mitteilungen des Vereines für Geschichte der Deutschen in Böhmen 50: 107–131, 254–281.
- Blau J. 1908. Ein Kapitel vom Getreidepreis. Mitteilungen des Vereines für die Geschichte der Deutschen in Böhmen 47: 277–283.
- Blumthaler M, Ambach W. 1994. Changes in solar radiation fluxes after the Pinatubo eruption. Tellus 46B: 76–78.
- Bradley RS. 1988. The explosive volcanic eruption signal in northern hemisphere continental temperature records. Climatic Change 12: 221–243.
- Bradley RS, Jones PD. 1992. Records of explosive volcanic eruptions over the last 500 years. In Climate Since AD 1500, RS Bradley, PD Jones (eds). Routledge: London.
- Brázdil R, Budíková M. 1999. An urban bias in air temperature fluctuations at the Klementinum, Prague, the Czech Republic. Atmospheric Environment 33: 4211–4217.
- Brázdil R, Bíl M. 2000. ENSO and its effects in the mean fields of air pressure, air temperature and precipitation in Europe in the twentieth century. In El Niño–Southern Oscillation and its Global Impacts, LC Nkemdirim (ed). A Publication of the Commission on Climatology of the International Geographical Union: Bonn.
- Brázdil R, Štěpánek P, Květoň V. 2001. Temperature series of the Czech Republic and its relation to Northern Hemisphere temperatures in the period 1961–1999. In Detecting and Modelling Regional Climate Change, M Brunet India, D López Bonillo (eds). Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Barcelona, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Paris, Tokyo.
- Brázdil R, Valášek H, Macková J. 2003. Climate in the Czech Lands during the 1780s in light of the daily weather records of parson Karel Bernard Hein of Hodonice (south-western Moravia): Comparison of documentary and instrumental data. Climatic Change 60: 297–327.
- Brázdil R, Štekl J, Budíková M, Dobrovolný P, Fišák J, Kolář M, Prošek P, Sokol Z, Stěpánek P, Štěpánková P, Zacharov P. 1999. Klimatické poměry Milešovky, Academia: Praha.
- Briffa KR, Jones PD. 1992. The climate of Europe during the 1810s with special reference to 1816. In The Year without a Summer? World Climate in 1816, CR Harington (ed). Canadian Museum of Nature: Ottawa.
- Briffa KR, Jones PD, Schweingruber FH, Osborn TJ. 1998. Influence of volcanic eruptions on Northern Hemisphere summer temperature over the past 600 years. Nature 393: 450–455.
- Brůžek V. 1992. Major volcanic eruptions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and temperatures in Central Europe. In The Year without a Summer? World Climate in 1816, CR Harington (ed). Canadian Museum of Nature: Ottawa.
- Camuffo D, Enzi S. 1994. Chronology of ‘Dry Fogs’ in Italy, 1374–1891. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 50: 31–33.
- Camuffo D, Enzi S. 1995. Impact of the clouds of volcanic aerosols in Italy during the last 7 centuries. Natural Hazards 11: 135–161.
- Chenoweth M. 2001. Two major volcanic cooling episodes derived from global marine air temperature, A.D. 1807–1827. Geophysical Research Letters 28: 2963–2966.
- Chiang JC, Sobel A. 2002. Tropical tropospheric temperature variations caused by ENSO and their influence on the remote tropical climate. Journal of Climate 15: 2616–2631.
- Conrad V, Pollak LW. 1962. Methods in Climatology. Harvard University Press: Cambridge.
- Courtillot V. 2005. New evidence for massive pollution and mortality in 1783–1784 may have bearing on global change and mass extinctions. Comptes rendus Geoscience 337: 635–637. DOI: 10.1016/j.crte.2005.03.001.
- Cress A, Schönwiese C-D. 1992. Vulkanische Einflüsse auf die Bodennahe und Stratosphärische Lufttemperatur der Erde. Berichte des Instituts für Meteorologie und Geophysik der Universität Frankfurt/Main 82: Frankfurt am Main.
- Dai J, Mosley-Thompson E, Thompson LG. 1991. Ice core evidence for an explosive tropical volcanic eruption 6 years preceding Tambora. Journal of Geophysical Research 96: 17361–17366.
- Dawson AG, Hickey K, McKenna J, Foster IDL. 1997. A 200-year record of gale frequency, Edinburgh, Scotland: possible link with high-magnitude volcanic eruptions. The Holocene 7: 337–341.
- Demarée GR, Ogilvie AEJ. 2001. Bons Baisers d'Islande: Climatic, environmental, and human dimensions impacts of the Lakagígar eruption (1783–1784) in Iceland. In History and Climate. Memories of the Future, PD Jones, AEJ Ogilvie, TD Davies, KR Briffa (eds). Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers: New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow.
- Demarée GR, Ogilvie AEJ, Zhang D. 1998. Further documentary evidence of Northern Hemispheric coverage of the great dry fog of 1783. Climatic Change 39: 727–730.
- HF Diaz, V Markgraf (eds). 1992. In El Niño. Historical and Paleoclimatic Aspects of the Southern Oscillation. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
- Dunn J. 2004. The influence of volcanic activity on large-scale atmospheric processes: a discussion. Weather 59: 46–49.
10.1256/wea.14.03 Google Scholar
- Folland CK, Rayner NA, Brown SJ, Smith TM, Shen SSP, Parker DE, Macadam I, Jones PD, Jones RN, Nicholls N, Sexton DMH. 2001. Global temperature change and its uncertainties since 1861. Geophysical Research Letters 28: 2621–2624.
- Fraedrich K. 1990. European Grosswetter during the warm and cold extremes of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation. International Journal of Climatology 10: 21–31.
- Fraedrich K. 1994. An ENSO impact on Europe? a review. Tellus 46A: 541–552.
- Fraedrich K, Müller K. 1992. Climate anomalies in Europe associated with ENSO extremes. International Journal of Climatology 12: 25–31.
- Graf HF, Perlwitz J, Kirchner I. 1994. Northern hemisphere tropospheric mid-latitude circulation after violent volcanic eruptions. Contribution to Atmospheric Physics 67: 3–13.
- Grattan JP, Pyatt FB. 1999. Volcanic eruptions dry fogs and the European palaeoenvironmental record: localised phenomena or hemispheric impacts? Global and Planetary Change 21: 173–179.
- Grattan J, Sadler J. 1999. Regional warming of the lower atmosphere in the wake of volcanic eruptions: the role of the Laki fissure eruption in the hot summer of 1783. In Volcanoes in the Quaternary, CR Firth, WG McGuire (eds). Geological Society: London.
- Grattan JP, Durand M, Taylor S. 2003. Illness and elevated human mortality in Europe coincident with the Laki fissure eruption. In Volcanic Degassing, C Oppenheimer, DM Pyle, J Barclay (eds). Geological Society: London.
- Grattan J, Rabartin R, Self S, Thordarson T. 2005. Volcanic air pollution and mortality in France 1783–1784. Comptes rendus Geoscience 337: 641–651. DOI: 10.1016/j.crte.2005.01.013.
- Groisman P. 1992. Possible regional climate consequences of the Pinatubo eruption: an empirical approach. Geophysical Research Letters 19: 1603–1606.
- Gu L, Baldocchi DD, Wofsy SC, Munger JW, Michalsky JJ, Urbanski SP, Boden TA. 2003. Response of a deciduous forest to the Mount Pinatubo eruption: Enhanced photosynthesis. Science 299: 2035–2038.
- Hanzlík S. 1918. Die Schwankungen der atmosphärischen Dursichtigkeit nach den Sonnenscheinregistrierungen in Prag. Meteorologische Zeitschrift 35: 52–53.
- CR Harington (ed). 1992. In The Year Without a Summer? World Climate in 1816. Canadian Museum of Nature: Ottawa.
- Highwood EJ, Stevenson DS. 2003. Atmospheric impact of the 1783–1784 Laki Eruption: Part II Climatic effect of sulphate aerosol. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 3: 1177–1189.
- Hurrell JW. 1995. Decadal trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation regional temperatures and precipitation. Science 269: 676–679.
- Jacobeit J, Beck C, Philipp A. 1998. Annual and Decadal Variability in Climate in Europe. Würzburger Geographische Manuskripte 43, Würzburg.
- Jones PD, Moberg A, Osborn TJ, Briffa KR. 2003. Surface climate responses to explosive volcanic eruptions seen in long European temperature records in mid-to-high latitude tree-ring density around the Northern Hemisphere. In Volcanism and the Earth's Atmosphere, Geophysical Monograph 139. A Robock, C Oppenheimer (eds.) American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C. 239–254, DOI: 10.1029/139GM15.
10.1029/139GM15 Google Scholar
- Kelly PM, Jones PD, Jia PQ. 1996. The spatial response of the climate system to explosive volcanic eruptions. International Journal of Climatology 16: 537–550.
- Kirchner I, Graf HF. 1995. Volcanoes and El Niño: signal separation in Northern Hemisphere winter. Climate Dynamics 11: 341–358.
- Kirchner I, Stenchikov GL, Graf HF, Robock A, Antuna JC. 1999. Climate model simulation of winter warming and summer cooling following the 1991 Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption. Journal of Geophysical Research 104: 19039–19055.
- Klein SA, Soden BJ, Lau N. 1999. Remote sea surface temperature variations during ENSO: evidence for a tropical atmospheric bridge. Journal of Climate 12: 917–932.
- Kolár J. 1987. Marek Bydžovský z Florentina, Svět za tří českých králů. Výbor z kronikářoských zápisů o letech 1526–1596. Svoboda: Praha.
- Komárek F. 1911. Paměti panství a farní osady budenické. Nákladem vlastním: Praha.
- Kreuzinger E. 1862. Chronik der alten und neuern Zeit Troppau's, oder Troppau und seine Merkwürdigkeiten. Im Selbstverlage des Herausgebers: Troppau.
- Kyncl J, Dobrý J, Munzar J, Sarajishvili KG. 1990. Tree-ring structure response of conifers in Europe to weather conditions in 1912 (with regard to the volcano Katmai eruption). In Climatic Change in the Historical and the Instrumental Periods, R Brázdil (ed). Masaryk University: Brno.
- Lamb PJ, Peppler RA. 1987. North Atlantic Oscillation: concept and an application. Bulletin of American Meteorological Society 68: 1218–1225.
- Lenhart JJ. 1840. Carlsbads Memorabilien vom Jahre 1325 bis 1839. Gottlieb Haase Söhne: Prag.
- Lupáč P. 1584. Rerum Boemicarum Ephemeris sive Kalendarium historicum, Ex reconditis veterum annalium monumentis crutum. Authore M. Procopio Lupacio [de] Hlavaczov aeo, Pragensi. Opus nunc primum in lucem editum, una cum coronide ac locuplere personarum et rerum memorabilium indice. In idem kalendarium. Eruta dum patriae monumenta Lupacius edit, et bonus est civis, doctus et historicus. Suscitat, amplificat, manifestat, promovet, ornat, maiores, patriam, tempora, gesta, duces. M. Bern. Sturmii. Pragae, Anno M.D.LXXXIIII [1584].
- Luterbacher J, Dietrich D, Xoplaki E, Grosjean M, Wanner H. 2004. European seasonal and annual temperature variability, trends and extremes since 1500. Science 303: 1499–1503.
- Luterbacher J, Xoplaki E, Dietrich D, Jones PD, Davies TD, Portis D, Gonzalez-Rouco JF, von Storch H, Gyalistras D, Casty C, Wanner H. 2002. Extending North Atlantic Oscillation reconstructions back to 1500. Atmospheric Science Letters 2: 114–124.
- Manley G. 1974. Central England temperatures: monthly means 1659 to 1973. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 100: 389–405.
- Mass C, Robock A. 1982. The short-term influence of the Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption on surface temperature in the northwest United States. Monthly Weather Review 110: 614–622.
- McCormick MP, Thomason LW, Trepte CR. 1995. Atmospheric effects of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. Nature 373: 399–404.
- McCracken MC, Luther FM. 1984. Preliminary estimate of the radiative and climatic effects of the El Chichon eruption. Geofisica Internacional 23: 385–401.
- Mosley-Thompson E, Mashiotta TA, Thompson LG. 2003. Ice core records of late Holocene volcanism: Current and future contributions from the Greenland PARCA cores. In Volcanism and the Earth's Atmosphere, Geophysical Monograph 139. A Robock, C Oppenheimer (eds.) American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C. 153–164, DOI: 10.1029/139GM09.
10.1029/139GM09 Google Scholar
- Nezbeda V, Šůla J. 1970. Kunvaldská kronika Antonína Kodytka 1740–1786. Nákladem Orlického muzea: Choceň.
- Oppenheimer C. 2003. Climatic, environmental and human consequences of the largest known historic eruption: Tambora volcano (Indonesia) 1815. Progress in Physical Geography 27: 230–259.
- Ostrožlík M. 2002. Time variability of global solar radiation in high-mountain regions. Contrib. Geophys. Geodesy 32: 277–289.
- Paměti starých písmáků moravských. 1916. Nákladem Selského archivu: Velké Meziříčí.
- Parker DE, Brownscombe JKL. 1983. Stratospheric warming following the El Chichon volcanic eruption. Nature 301: 406–408.
- Parker DE, Wilson H, Jones PD, Christy JR, Folland CK. 1996. The impact of Mount Pinatubo on worldwide temperatures. International Journal of Climatology 16: 487–497.
- Rapp J. 2000. Konzeption, Problematik und Ergebnisse klimatologischer Trendanalysen für Europa und Deutschland. Berichte des Deutschen Wetterdienstes 212: Offenbach am Main.
- Reichenau TG, Esser G. 2003. Is interannual fluctuation of atmospheric CO2 dominated by combined effects of ENSO and volcanic aerosols? Global Biogeochemical Cycles 17: 5-1–5-9. DOI: 10.1029/2002 GB002025.
- Robek A. 1974. Lidové kronikářství na Kralupsku a Mělnicku. Edice lidových kronikářkých textů. Ústav pro etnografii a folkloristiku ČSAV: Praha.
- Robock A. 1981. The Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption on 18 May 1980: minimal climatic effect. Science 212: 1383–1384.
- Robock A. 1984. Climate model simulations of the effects of the El Chichon eruption. Geofisica Internacional 23: 403–414.
- Robock A. 2000. Volcanic eruptions and climate. Reviews of Geophysics 38: 191–219.
- Robock A, Mao J. 1992. Winter warming from large volcanic eruptions. Geophysical Research Letters 19: 2405–2408.
- Robock A, Mao J. 1995. The volcanic signal in surface temperature observations. Journal of Climate 8: 1086–1103.
- Robock A, Mass C. 1982. The Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption of 18 May 1980: large short-term surface temperature effects. Science 216: 628–630.
- Roubic A. 1987. Kronika rychtářů Urbaníka a Hořínka z Velké Bystřice z let 1789–1848. Okresní archív v Olomouci 1987: 213–238.
- Sadler JP, Grattan JP. 1999. Volcanoes as agents of past environmental change. Global and Planetary Change 21: 181–196.
- Sato M, Hansen JE, McCormick MP, Pollack JB. 1993. Stratospheric aerosol optical depth, 1850–1990. Journal of Geophysical Research 98: 22,987–22,994.
- Sear CB, Kelly PM, Jones PD, Goodess CM. 1987. Global surface-temperature responses to major volcanic eruptions. Nature 330: 365–367.
- Self S, King AJ. 1996. Petrology and sulfur and chlorine emissions of the 1963 eruption of Gunung Agung, Bali, Indonesia. Bulletin of Volcanology 58: 263–285.
- Shindell DT, Schmidt GA, Mann ME, Faluvegi G. 2004. Dynamic winter climate response to large tropical volcanic eruptions since 1600. Journal of Geophysical Research 109: D05104. DOI:10.1029/2003JD004151.
- Sigurdsson H. 1982. Volcanic pollution and climate—the 1783 Laki eruption. American Geophysical Union, EOS Transactions 10: 601–602.
10.1029/EO063i032p00601 Google Scholar
- Sigurdsson HS, Carey S. 1992. The eruption of Tambora in 1815: Environmental effects and eruption dynamics. In The Year without a Summer? World Climate in 1816, CR Harington (ed). Canadian Museum of Nature: Ottawa.
- Stenchikov G, Hamilton K, Robock A, Ramaswamy V, Schwarzkopf MD. 2004. Arctic Oscillation response to the 1991 Pinatubo eruption in the SKYHI general circulation model with a realistic quasi-biennial oscillation. Journal of Geophysical Research 109: D03112. DOI:10.1029/2003JD003699.
- Stenchikov G, Robock A, Ramaswamy V, Schwarzkopf MD, Hamilton K, Ramachandran S. 2002. Arctic oscillation response to the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption: effects of volcanic aerosols and ozone depletion. Journal of Geophysical Research 107: 4803. DOI:10.1029/2002JD002090.
- Stevenson DS, Johnson CE, Highwood EJ, Gauci V, Collins WJ, Derwent RG. 2003. Atmospheric impact of the 1783–1784 Laki eruption: Part I Chemistry modeling. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 3: 487–507.
- Stöhr A. 1912. Geringere Wirkung der Sonnenstrahlen. Das Wetter 29: 212–213.
- Stommel H, Stommel E. 1983. Volcano Weather: The Story of 1816, The Year without a Summer. Seven Seas Press: Newport RI.
- Stothers RB. 1984. The great Tambora eruption in 1815 and its aftermath. Science 224: 1191–1198.
- Stothers RB. 1996. The great dry fog of 1783. Climatic Change 32: 79–89.
- Štěpánek P. 2003. Temperature fluctuations in the Czech republic during the instrumental period. PhD Thesis, Masaryk University: Brno.
- Strnadt A. 1785. Betrachtungen über einige meteorologische Gegenstände; besonders über die Ebbe und Fluth in der Luft, als auch über die mehrmaligen täglichen Beobachtungen. Abhandlungen der böhmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften 1: 300–342.
- Thordarson T, Self S. 1993. The Laki (Skaftár Fires) and Grímsvötn eruptions in 1783–1785. Bulletin of Volcanology 55: 233–263.
- Thordarson T, Self S. 2003. Atmospheric and environmental effects of the 1783–1784 Laki eruption: a review and reassessment. Journal of Geophysical Research 108: AAC7-1–AAC7-29.
- Tille J. 1905. Geschichte der Stadt Niemes und ihrer nächsten Umgebung. Druck und Verlag von A. Bienert: Niemes.
- Trnka F. 1912. Kroniky novoměstské. Část II. Nákladem a tiskem A. Veselého: Nové Město na Moravě.
- Tutsch F. 1914. Die älteste Chronik Römerstadts und ihr Verfasser. Jahresbericht der Landesoberrealschule zu Römerstadt 16: 4–47.
- Vupputuri RKR. 1992. The Tambora eruption in 1815 provides a test on possible global climatic and chemical perturbations in the past. Natural Hazards 5: 1–16.
10.1007/BF00127136 Google Scholar
- Vupputuri RKR, Blanchet JP. 1984. The possible effects of the El Chichon eruption on atmospheric thermal and chemical structure and surface climate. Geofisica Internacional 23: 433–447.
- Wiechowsky A. 1928. Aus den Aufzeichnungen des Lehrers Anton Lehmann aus Neuland bei Niemes. Mitteilungen des Nordböhm. Vereines für Heimatforschung und Wanderpflege 51: 28–36, 110–115.
- Williams SN, Self S. 1983. The October, 1902 plinian eruption of Santa María Volcano, Guatemala. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 16: 33–56.
- Witham CS, Oppenheimer C. 2005. Mortality in England during the 1783–4 Laki Craters eruption. Bulletin of Volcanology 67: 15–26. DOI: 10.1007/s00445-004-0357-7.
- Wood CA. 1992. Climatic effects of the 1783 Laki eruption. In The Year without a Summer? World Climate in 1816, CR Harington (ed). Canadian Museum of Nature: Ottawa.
- Xoplaki E, Luterbacher J, Paeth H, Dietrich D, Steiner N, Grosjean M, Wanner H. 2005. European spring & autumn temperature, variability and change of extremes over the last half millennium. Geophysical Research Letters 32: L15713. DOI: 10.1029/2005G-L023424.
- Zilynskyj B. 1984. Letopis měšt'ana Nového Města pražského z let 1492 až 1539. Pražský sborník historický 17: 52–89.
