A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has solved a centuries-old mystery. Scientists have identified the volcano responsible for the massive sulfur gas eruption in 1831, which cooled the planet by nearly two degrees Fahrenheit and caused widespread famine and devastation.
The culprit was the Zavaritskii volcano on Simushir Island in the Kuril Islands, a remote and uninhabited region in the Western Pacific. The breakthrough came from analyzing ash found in ice core samples, providing a “perfect fingerprint match” to the volcano.
The analysis of microscopic ash shards extracted from polar ice cores was made possible by recent advancements in technology. The discovery highlights the need for better monitoring of volcanoes, including those on the Kuril Islands, which are an extremely productive volcanic region but remain understudied.
The study’s lead author, Will Hutchinson, described the moment when they analyzed the ash samples together as a “genuine eureka moment.” If a similar eruption were to happen today, scientists warn that it could have devastating consequences.
Source: https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-turned-sun-blue