Informace o publikaci

The Eldgja eruption: timing, long-range impacts and influence on the Christianisation of Iceland

Autoři	OPPENHEIMER Clive ORCHARD Andy STOFFEL Markus NEWFIELD Timothy P. GUILLET Sebastien CORONA Christophe SIGL Michael DI COSMO Nicola BÜNTGEN Ulf
Rok publikování	2018
Druh	Článek v odborném periodiku
Časopis / Zdroj	Climatic Change
Fakulta / Pracoviště MU	Přírodovědecká fakulta
Citace
www	https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-018-2171-9
Doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2171-9
Klíčová slova	GREENLAND ICE-SHEET; LAKI SKAFTAR-FIRES; MILLENNIUM ERUPTION; CLIMATIC IMPACT; CORE; SULFUR; ASH; 10TH-CENTURY; CHANGBAISHAN; VOLCANISM
Popis	The Eldgja lava flood is considered Iceland's largest volcanic eruption of the Common Era. While it is well established that it occurred after the Settlement of Iceland (circa 874 CE), the date of this great event has remained uncertain. This has hampered investigation of the eruption's impacts, if any, on climate and society. Here, we use high-temporal resolution glaciochemical records from Greenland to show that the eruption began in spring 939 CE and continued, at least episodically, until at least autumn 940 CE. Contemporary chronicles identify the spread of a remarkable haze in 939 CE, and tree ring-based reconstructions reveal pronounced northern hemisphere summer cooling in 940 CE, consistent with the eruption's high yield of sulphur to the atmosphere. Consecutive severe winters and privations may also be associated with climatic effects of the volcanic aerosol veil. Iceland's formal conversion to Christianity dates to 999/1000 CE, within two generations or so of the Eldgja eruption. The end of the pagan pantheon is foretold in Iceland's renowned medieval poem, VC << luspa ('the prophecy of the seeress'). Several lines of the poem describe dramatic eruptive activity and attendant meteorological effects in an allusion to the fiery terminus of the pagan gods. We suggest that they draw on first-hand experiences of the Eldgja eruption and that this retrospection of harrowing volcanic events in the poem was intentional, with the purpose of stimulating Iceland's Christianisation over the latter half of the tenth century.