TY  - JOUR
A1  - Osipov, Sergey
A1  - Stenchikov, Georgiy
A1  - Tsigaridis, Kostas
A1  - LeGrande, Allegra N.
A1  - Bauer, Susanne E.
A1  - Fnais, Mohammed
A1  - Lelieveld, Jos
T1  - The Toba supervolcano eruption caused severe tropical stratospheric ozone depletion
Y1  - 2021-04-12
VL  - 2
IS  - 1
JF  - Communications Earth & Environment
DO  - 10.1038/s43247-021-00141-7
PB  - Nature Publishing Group UK
N2  - Supervolcano eruptions have occurred throughout Earth’s history and have major environmental impacts. These impacts are mostly associated with the attenuation of visible sunlight by stratospheric sulfate aerosols, which causes cooling and deceleration of the water cycle. Supereruptions have been assumed to cause so-called volcanic winters that act as primary evolutionary factors through ecosystem disruption and famine, however, winter conditions alone may not be sufficient to cause such disruption. Here we use Earth system model simulations to show that stratospheric sulfur emissions from the Toba supereruption 74,000 years ago caused severe stratospheric ozone loss through a radiation attenuation mechanism that only moderately depends on the emission magnitude. The Toba plume strongly inhibited oxygen photolysis, suppressing ozone formation in the tropics, where exceptionally depleted ozone conditions persisted for over a year. This effect, when combined with volcanic winter in the extra-tropics, can account for the impacts of supereruptions on ecosystems and humanity.
N2  - Stratospheric sulfur emissions from the Toba supereruption about 74,000 years ago suppressed ozone formation which caused severe tropical ozone layer depletion and enhanced solar ultraviolet radiation stress, according to Earth system model simulations.
UR  - http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/11060
ER  -