Volcanic imprint in the North Atlantic climate variability as recorded by stable water isotopes of Greenland ice cores

Volcanic imprint in the North Atlantic climate variability as recorded by stable water isotopes of Greenland ice cores | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Letter Volcanic imprint in the North Atlantic climate variability as recorded by stable water isotopes of Greenland ice cores Hera Guðlaugsdóttir, Jesper Sjolte, Árný Erla Sveinbjörnsdóttir, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-61016/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Volcanic eruptions are important drivers of climate variability on both seasonal and multi-decadal time scales as a result of atmosphere-ocean coupling. While the direct response after equatorial eruptions emerges as the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation in the first two years after an eruption, less is known about high latitude northern hemisphere eruptions. In this study we assess the difference between equatorial and high latitude volcanic eruptions through the reconstructed atmospheric circulation and stable water isotope records of Greenland ice cores for the last millennia (1241-1979 CE), where the coupling mechanism behind the long-term response is addressed. The atmospheric circulation is studied through the four main modes of climate variability in the North Atlantic, the Atlantic Ridge, Scandinavian Blocking and the positive and negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. We report a difference in the atmospheric circulation response after high latitude eruptions compared to the response after equatorial eruptions, where the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Atlantic Ridge seem to be more associated with equatorial eruptions while the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation seems to follow high latitude eruptions. This response is present during the first five years and then again in years 8-12 after both equatorial and high latitude eruptions. Such a prolonged response is evidence of an ocean-atmosphere coupling that is initiated through different mechanisms, where we suspect sea ice to play a key role. Geology Volcanic eruptions North Atlantic Climate variability Weather regimes Climate proxies Climate reconstructions Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Full Text Supplementary Files supplmanuIIInew.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-61016","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Letter","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":2283987,"identity":"b31bddce-1bd6-42bd-8e74-19fad5afae92","order_by":0,"name":"Hera Guðlaugsdóttir","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAiUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAxDxsUGCgY0kLYwzSdbCzNtAisPM2XsffrbdYcHAx3+ASC2WPceNpXPPAB0mkUCsw26kMUjntoG0EOswg/vPmH9bgrQQ7TCDG2xs0owgLQxEO+xMGptlb5sEDwl+OX6M+cbPtjo5+X5iHQYDPCSqHwWjYBSMglGAFwAArwgfQp+ibWEAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7910-5774","institution":"University of Iceland Institute of Earth Sciences","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hera","middleName":"","lastName":"Guðlaugsdóttir","suffix":""},{"id":2283988,"identity":"611a417b-7341-4420-9b39-d319e7c2f841","order_by":1,"name":"Jesper Sjolte","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Lund Geology department","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jesper","middleName":"","lastName":"Sjolte","suffix":""},{"id":2283989,"identity":"6dc93cf0-b9df-47f0-9008-b6ba25da7029","order_by":2,"name":"Árný Erla Sveinbjörnsdóttir","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Iceland, Institute of Earth Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Árný","middleName":"Erla","lastName":"Sveinbjörnsdóttir","suffix":""},{"id":2283990,"identity":"b673176d-1789-4d6a-aff0-645752730d4b","order_by":3,"name":"Hans Christian Steen-Larsen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hans","middleName":"Christian","lastName":"Steen-Larsen","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2020-08-17 11:50:51","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-61016/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-61016/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":2414068,"identity":"a66b979b-b0c2-4d64-9694-41b327cd36fc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2020-09-15 14:02:38","extension":"jpg","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":409124,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"a) The average δ18Oice anomalies of all three ice cores (Dye 3, GRIP and Crete) in a) years 0-15 and for individual sites in b) years 2-5 and c) years 7-12 after a composite of 13 EQ eruptions. Blue color indicates lighter (depleted in 18O) δ18Oice while yellow indicate heavier δ18Oice (enriched in 18O).Red circles indicate insignificant response, compared to the other colored dots that are significant at the 95% confidence level calculated with respect to bootstrapped ice cores. In a) the red line indicate 95% confidence level (c.l.) and the orange 99% c.l. that is calculated by methods of Monte Carlo (see methods).","description":"","filename":"Figure1.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-61016/v1/Figure1.jpg"},{"id":2414069,"identity":"ffcb2888-6c94-4281-9f11-e44b845b0ca7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2020-09-15 14:02:38","extension":"jpg","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":536119,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"The normalized (mean=0, standard deviation=1) δ18Oreconst response a) 2-5 years and b) 8-12 years after a composite of 8 EQ volcanic eruptions. Blue color indicates lighter (depleted in 18O) δ18Oreconst while yellow indicate heavier δ18Oreconst (enriched in 18O). Black dots are significant at the 95% confidence level calculated with respect to bootstrapped δ18Oreconst.","description":"","filename":"Figure2.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-61016/v1/Figure2.jpg"},{"id":2414070,"identity":"789f180f-31c7-4ee3-b067-601275fa91be","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2020-09-15 14:02:38","extension":"jpg","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":409906,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"a) The δ18Oice anomalies of all three ice cores (Dye 3, GRIP and Crete) 229\nin a) years 0-15 and at individual sites in b) years 1-4 and c) years 10-13. Blue color indicate lighter (depleted in 18O) δ18Oice while yellow indicate heavier δ18Oice (enriched in 18O). Red circles indicate insignificant response, compared to the other colored dots that are significant at the 95% confidence level calculated with respect to bootstrapped ice cores. In a) the red line indicate 95% c.l. and the orange 99% c.l. that is calculated by methods of Monte Carlo (see methods).","description":"","filename":"Figure3.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-61016/v1/Figure3.jpg"},{"id":30530870,"identity":"1d9d18a2-1691-423e-930f-ab9c5bd4b72a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2022-12-19 18:23:12","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":410401,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-61016/v1/7664b248-3ab1-472c-933a-c612971b35b8.pdf"},{"id":2414072,"identity":"1bd40152-ee79-4b4e-8cf8-ab4c304edda3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2020-09-15 14:02:39","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1869623,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"supplmanuIIInew.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-61016/v1/supplmanuIIInew.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"Volcanic imprint in the North Atlantic climate variability as recorded by stable water isotopes of Greenland ice cores","fulltext":[{"header":"Full Text","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis preprint is available for \u003ca href='/article/rs-61016/latest.pdf' target='_blank'\u003edownload as a PDF\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":true,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Volcanic eruptions, North Atlantic, Climate variability, Weather regimes, Climate proxies, Climate reconstructions","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-61016/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-61016/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Volcanic eruptions are important drivers of climate variability on both seasonal and multi-decadal time scales as a result of atmosphere-ocean coupling. While the direct response after equatorial eruptions emerges as the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation in the first two years after an eruption, less is known about high latitude northern hemisphere eruptions. In this study we assess the difference between equatorial and high latitude volcanic eruptions through the reconstructed atmospheric circulation and stable water isotope records of Greenland ice cores for the last millennia (1241-1979 CE), where the coupling mechanism behind the long-term response is addressed. The atmospheric circulation is studied through the four main modes of climate variability in the North Atlantic, the Atlantic Ridge, Scandinavian Blocking and the positive and negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. We report a difference in the atmospheric circulation response after high latitude eruptions compared to the response after equatorial eruptions, where the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Atlantic Ridge seem to be more associated with equatorial eruptions while the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation seems to follow high latitude eruptions. This response is present during the first five years and then again in years 8-12 after both equatorial and high latitude eruptions. 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