#myrdalsjokull

[nature-hiking]

Myrdalsjokull glacier offshoot - Fimmvörðuháls trail, Iceland, August 2017

photo by nature-hiking

[earthstory]

Iceland eruption caused a Dark Age famine in Europe

It is already a matter of record that the climatic effects of the 1783-4 Laki fissure eruption influenced the series of bad harvests that led to the rising societal tensions which exploded in the French Revolution some years later (see http://bit.ly/2w0Zmuc and http://bit.ly/2hQFFzv for a detailed expose), but evidence has emerged suggesting that a similar event from the misty region of European history known as the Dark Ages (roughly 400-1100 CE) was due to another Icelandic volcano, culprit pictured here: Katla. The mechanism is simple, large volumes of sulphurous aerosols erupt into the higher reaches of our globe's airy envelope and sit there, reflecting heat back into space and cooling the planet for several years. The story started in 2003, when spring floods on the Thverá River revealed a buried birch forest on Iceland. Preliminary evidence suggested that it might date from the early 9th century CE, piquing the interest of the team involved in this research: They are working on astrochronology, a new technique whereby C14 peaks in tree rings induced by major solar storms are used to help calibrate dendrochronology and C14 dating...what caught their attention was the possibility that this forest might put another data point into their database for an already well attested event, revealed by a 20x C14 spike in several locations measured in both hemispheres. Said event occurred in 775CE (for our past post on this research see here: http://bit.ly/2uw3P48).

This marker was indeed present in the tree rings, and the record revealed that the 775CE marker occurred some 47 years before the forest was engulfed in sediments from a huge flood in late 822 or early 823. This event was a Jokulhlaup (see http://bit.ly/2wD9G9f), a huge flood caused by an eruption under the Myrdalsjokull ice sheet growing and shrinking above Katla (currently some 700 m thick), lifting the ice off the underlying meltwater and allowing said liquid to escape downhill in one fell swoop. The trees had all been knocked over facing away from the mountain some 35km away in the flood, testifying to the intensity of the event.

Researchers had already found the chemical residue of this eruption in the relevant layers of the Greenland ice cores, but were unsure which smoking mountain might have been responsible. Since the Vikings hadn't arrived on the island yet (history on Iceland starts in 870CE, barring a few Irish monks who left no direct trace), there were no human records. Since then the smoker has awoken a dozen times, the most recent one to pierce the ice being in 1918.

Since the team are engaged in interdisciplinary research with archaologists and historians as well as researching past climates they went and checked the history books, and indeed such records as remain do mention hard times in the years immediately after, wet cold summers, poor harvests, winters so bitter that waterways that normally never froze through (such as Rhine, Danube and Seine) did so, and in such a way that horses and carts could cross directly over. Several years of nonexistent summers and bitter winters followed, characterised by widespread famine and plague, as they did the Laki event of 1783. This also makes the eruption the oldest precisely dated event, with a precision of a month or three.

Loz

Image credit: 1: Alamy, others Ulf Büntgen/University of Cambridge

http://econ.st/2vtbrp6 http://bit.ly/2s95mvA Original paper, free access: http://bit.ly/2uuQRaY

[dpb-365]

163/365 - Sólheimajökull

As mentioned in 162, this is Sólheimajökull the glacier that is part of  Myrdalsjokull Ice Cap. Day 162 was spent mainly lazing around the cabin so I am using this photo from the day before. 

[sevristh1138]

Seeing a glacier for the first time, even from this distance was humbling, this location is north of Vik on highway number 1, we were told 20 years ago the mouth of the glacier was much closer to where we were standing when I took this photo.. #myrdalsjokull #iceland #sonya99ii (at Myrdalsjokull Glacier mouth) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWd1sEzDJLF/?utm_medium=tumblr

[hectorramirezdo]

#eyjafjallajökull (Island Mountain Glacier) is one of the smaller #ice caps of #iceland, north of #skogafoss and west to #myrdalsjokull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a #volcano with a summit elevation of 1,651 mts. The volcano has erupted relatively frequently since the last glacier period, the most recently in 2010 !! . . . . . #mountain #landscape #extreme #hiking #glacier #natural #vacation #europe #inlove #scandinavian #fisherman #river #beauty #picoftheday (en Eyjafjallajökull - Iceland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnZ3LxfHsVr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qjgm3qi7dlpd

[juanmacapa]

#myrdalsjokull #iceland #glacier #glaciar #islandia (en Mýrdalsjökull)

[xentex]

Paseo con crampones sobre el glaciar #myrdalsjokull , una nueva experiencia con @taniamamolar de la mano del gran Thomas de #arcanumglaciertours #viajeislandia2017 (en Mýrdalsjökull)

[ligadoemviagem]

Quando pensei que estaria andando sobre um #glacial? Mesmo não fazendo toda a trilha, nós fomos para o início da geleira #Myrdalsjokull, quarta em tamanho na #Islândia. E andar sobre grandes blocos de gelo é um sensação única. #iceland#icelandic #inlovewithiceland #bjorkland (em Mýrdalsjökull)