a compositional tipping point governing the mobilization and eruption style of rhyolitic magma measurements of the composition dependent viscosity of rhyolitic magma reveal a tipping point that changes the physical properties of the melt and controls the transition between effusive and explosive eruptions calcalkaline rhyolites produce the largest explosive volcanic eruptions but these eruptions can switch repeatedly between being effusive and explosive this is difficult to attribute to the rheological effects of magma water content or crystallinity danilo di genova and co authors report the viscosity of a series of melts spanning the compositional range of the yellowstone rhyolitic volcanic system they find that within a narrow compositional zone melt viscosity increases by up to two orders of magnitude which they propose to be the consequence of melt structure reorganization the authors confirm that such a compositional tipping point exists in the global geochemical record of rhyolites which separates effusive from explosive deposits they conclude that the anhydrous water free composition of calcalkaline rhyolites is decisive in determining mobilization and eruption dynamics of the earth s largest volcanic systems the most viscous volcanic melts and the largest explosive eruptions1 on our planet consist of calcalkaline rhyolites2 3 these eruptions have the potential to influence global climate4 the eruptive products are commonly very crystal poor and highly degassed yet the magma is mostly stored as crystal mushes containing small amounts of interstitial melt with elevated water content5 it is unclear how magma mushes are mobilized to create large batches of eruptible crystal free magma further rhyolitic eruptions6 7 8 can switch repeatedly between effusive and explosive eruption styles and this transition is difficult to attribute to the rheological effects of water content or crystallinity9 10 here we measure the viscosity of a series of melts spanning the compositional range of the yellowstone volcanic system and find that in a narrow compositional zone melt viscosity increases by up to two orders of magnitude these viscosity variations are not predicted by current viscosity models11 12 and result from melt structure reorganization as confirmed by raman spectroscopy we identify a critical compositional tipping point independently documented in the global geochemical record of rhyolites at which rhyolitic melts fluidize or stiffen and that clearly separates effusive from explosive deposits worldwide this correlation between melt structure viscosity and eruptive behaviour holds despite the variable water content and other parameters such as temperature that are inherent in natural eruptions thermodynamic modelling demonstrates how the observed subtle compositional changes that result in fluidization or stiffening of the melt can be induced by crystal growth from the melt or variation in oxygen fugacity however the rheological effects of water and crystal content alone cannot explain the correlation between composition and eruptive style we conclude that the composition of calcalkaline rhyolites is decisive in determining the mobilization and eruption dynamics of earth s largest volcanic systems resulting in a better understanding of how the melt structure controls volcanic processes

the ad 1362 oraefajokull eruption s e iceland physical volcanology and volatile release abstract the explosive rhyolitic eruption of oraefajokull volcano iceland in ad 1362 is described and interpreted based on the sequence of pyroclastic fall and flow deposits at 10 proximal locations around the south side of the volcano oraefajokull is an ice clad stratovolcano in south central iceland which has an ice filled caldera 4 5 km diameter of uncertain origin the main phase of the eruption took place over a few days in june and proceeded in three main phases that produced widely dispersed fallout deposits and a pyroclastic flow deposit an initial phase of phreatomagmatic eruptive activity produced a volumetrically minor coarse ash fall deposit unit a with a bi lobate dispersal this was followed by a second phreatomagmatic possibly phreatoplinian phase that deposited more fine ash beds unit b dispersed to the sse phases a and b were followed by an intense climactic plinian phase that lasted 8 12 h and produced unit c a coarse lapilli pumice clast dominated fall deposit in the proximal region at the end of plinian activity pyroclastic flows formed a poorly sorted deposit unit d presently of very limited thickness and exposed distribution much of eastern iceland is covered with a very fine distal ash layer dispersed to the ne this was probably deposited from an umbrella cloud and is the distal representation of the plinian fallout a total bulk fall deposit volume of 2 3 km3 is calculated 1 2 km3 dre pyroclastic flow deposit volumes have been crudely estimated to be

a melt inclusion study of the toba tuffs sumatra indonesia the toba caldera in northern sumatra indonesia is the site of earth s largest quaternary volcanic eruption this eruption dated at 74 ka produced the 2800 km3 youngest toba tuff ytt and ash fall quartz bearing silicic pumices ranging from 68 to 77 wt sio2 indicate that the ytt magma was zoned compositionally and mineralogically prior to the ytt eruption two other silicic quartz bearing tuffs known as the middle toba tuff mtt and the oldest toba tuff ott were erupted from toba at 0 501 ma and 0 840 ma respectively although the volatile contents of the toba magmas are poorly constrained aerosols generated by the ytt eruption are generally thought to have caused a global volcanic winter an evaluation of the pre eruptive dissolved gas contents of the ytt magma is fundamental to understanding the global effects of this eruption we used melt inclusions in quartz crystals to determine the dissolved h2o co2 s cl and f contents of the ytt mtt and ott magmas quartz crystals selected from pumice blocks and welded tuffs that spanned the compositional ranges of the three units were chosen for study major and trace element analyses of melt inclusions were also conducted to characterize melt evolution and provide context to the volatile data melt inclusions from the ytt mtt and ott are rhyolitic in composition 73 77 wt sio2 and have overlapping indistinguishable major element trends inclusions from the large eruptions ytt and ott have similar geochemical relationships where the most evolved melt inclusions occur in the least silicic bulk rock samples and are more evolved than their matrix glasses in contrast the least evolved melt inclusions occur in the most silicic samples and either overlap with or are less evolved than their matrix glasses these patterns can be explained if quartz crystals in the least silicic magmas were inherited from more evolved melt while those in the most silicic melt formed in situ several lines of evidence suggest that crystal settling of early formed quartz crystals in long lived magma bodies was an important process in the ytt and ott magmas trace element data from the ytt melt inclusions have wide ranges rb 250 830 ppm ba 10 485 ppm and mostly support these models however incompatible trace elements are enriched 2 3 over their matrix glass compositions in all samples in the smaller mtt melt inclusions overlapped with the compositional range of the bulk rock samples and are consistent with in situ crystallization ftir analyses indicate that the ytt mtt and ott melts contained about 4 0 5 5 2 0 5 5 and 2 0 5 5 wt h2o respectively co2 contents in all units are generally 100 ppm and cl is 2000 ppm water gradients occur in all 3 tuffs cl gradients are evident only in the ytt and the least silicic samples from all units had no detectable co2 sulfur contents in melt inclusions are low in all samples 32 ppm and overlap with matrix glass s contents applying broad degassing constraints about 1014 g of h2so4 aerosols were likely loaded into the atmosphere during the ytt eruption 2 orders of magnitude less than previous petrologic estimates considerably more cl and f about 1015 g of each may have been part of the ytt aerosol cloud

explosive subglacial rhyolitic eruptions in iceland are fuelled by high magmatic h2o and closed system degassing rhyolitic eruptions beneath icelandic glaciers can be highly explosive as demonstrated by quaternary tephra layers dispersed throughout northern europe however they can also be small and effusive a subglacial rhyolitic eruption has never been observed so behavioral controls remain poorly understood and the influence of pre eruptive volatile contents is unknown we have therefore used secondary ion mass spectrometry to characterize pre eruptive volatile contents and degassing paths for five subglacial rhyolitic edifices within the torfajokull central volcano formed in contrasting styles of eruption under ice 400 m thick this includes the products of the largest known eruption of icelandic subglacial rhyolite of 16 km 3 at ca 70 ka we find pre eruptive water contents in melt inclusions h 2 o mi of up to 4 8 wt which indicates that icelandic rhyolite can be significantly more volatile rich than previously thought our results indicate that explosive subglacial rhyolite eruptions correspond with high h 2 o mi closed system degassing and rapid magma ascent whereas their effusive equivalents have lower h 2 o mi and show open system degassing and more sluggish ascent rates volatile controls on eruption style thus appear similar to those for subaerial eruptions suggesting that ice plays a subsidiary role in influencing the behavior of subglacial rhyolitic eruptions

atlantic thermohaline circulation in a coupled general circulation model unforced variations versus forced changes a 1200 yr unforced control run and future climate change simulations using the parallel climate model pcm a coupled atmosphere ocean land sea ice global model with no flux adjustments and relatively high resolution 2 8 for the atmosphere and 2 3 for the oceans are analyzed for changes in atlantic ocean circulations for the forced simulations historical greenhouse gas and sulfate forcing of the twentieth century and projected forcing for the next two centuries are used the atlantic thermohaline circulation thc shows large multidecadal 15 40 yr variations with mean peak amplitudes of 1 5 3 0 sv 1 sv 10 6 m 3 s 1 and a sharp peak of power around a 24 yr period in the control run associated with the thc oscillations there are large variations in north atlantic ocean heat transport sea surface temperature sst and salinity sss sea ice fraction and net surface water and energy fluxes which all lag the variations in thc strength by 2 3 yr however the net effect of the sst and sss variations on upper ocean density in the midlatitude north atlantic leads the thc variations by about 6 yr which results in the 24 yr period the simulated sst and sea ice spatial patterns associated with the thc oscillations resemble those in observed sst and sea ice concentrations that are associated with the north atlantic oscillation nao the results suggest a dominant role of the advective mechanism and strong coupling between the thc and the nao whose index also shows a sharp peak around the 24 yr time scale in the control run in the forced simulations the thc weakens by 12 in the twenty first century and continues to weaken by an additional 10 in the twenty second century if co2 keeps rising but the thc stabilizes if co2 levels off the thc weakening results from stabilizing temperature increases that are larger in the upper and northern atlantic ocean than in the deep and southern parts of the basin in both the control and forced simulations as the thc gains loses strength and depth the separated gulf stream gs moves southward northward while the subpolar gyre centered at the labrador sea contracts from expands to the east with the north atlantic current nac being shifted westward eastward these horizontal circulation changes which are dynamically linked to the thc changes induce large temperature and salinity variations around the gs and nac paths

statistical parameterization of heterogeneous oceanic convection abstract a statistical convective adjustment scheme is proposed that attempts to account for the effects of mesoscale and submesoscale variability of temperature and salinity typically observed in the oceanic convective regions temperature and salinity in each model grid box are defined in terms of their mean variance and mutual correlations subgrid scale instabilities lead to partial mixing between different layers in the water column this allows for a smooth transition between the only two states convection on and convection off allowed in standard convective adjustment schemes the advantage of the statistical parameterization is that possible instabilities associated with the sharp transition between the two states which are known to occasionally affect the large scale model solution are eliminated the procedure also predicts the generation of correlations between temperature and salinity and the presence of convectively induced upgradient fluxes that have been obtained in numerical simulati

subglacial and ice contact volcanism at the oraefajokull stratovolcano iceland eruptions of oraefajokull have produced mafic and silicic magmas and have taken place in both glacial and interglacial periods the geology of the volcano records the differing response of magmas of contrasting composition to interaction with ice of variable thickness and gives insight into the development of a long lived ice covered stratovolcano vatnafjall a ridge on the southeast flank of oraefajokull is the first area of the volcano to have been mapped in detail and the geological map is presented here alongside descriptions of each erupted unit the oldest units comprise pillow lavas hyaloclastite and jointed lava flows that were formed during subglacial basaltic eruptions involving abundant meltwater the products of a subsequent explosive initially phreatomagmatic subglacial rhyolite eruption were confined by ice to form a tephra pile over 200 m thick that was intruded by dense rhyolite magma towards the end of the eruption confinement by ice caused a later trachydacite lava flow to form buttresses and a steep pillar whilst some of the meltwater produced infiltrated the lava to generate red and black glassy breccias and cause localised steam explosions it is likely that much of it drained down the steep topography the most recently erupted units are subaerial basaltic lava flows the oldest of which were erupted during an interglacial period and have subsequently been partially eroded and scoured by advancing ice ice has been important in shaping the edifice by confining eruptive products to form constructional features and by later eroding parts of them to form deep valleys reconstructions of volcano ice interaction allowed the local thickness of the glacier at the time of each eruption to be estimated and demonstrates that the upper surface of the ice has varied in elevation by over 700 m

modeling the effect of freshwater pulses on the early holocene climate the influence of high frequency climate variability freshwater 4 67 10 14 m 3 into the labrador sea at three different constant rates 1 5 sv 1 sv 1 10 6 m 3 s 1 i n 10 years 0 75 sv in 20 years and 0 3 sv in 50 years for each rate five ensemble experiments have been performed varying in initial conditions the freshwater pulses produce a weakening of the thermohaline circulation the perturbed state is in agreement with proxy evidence for the 8 2 ka event two types of recovery of the thermohaline circulation occurred differing in time scale 1 200 years and 2 200 years in the experiments with 10 year and 20 year pulses both types of recovery were observed this suggests that the model response is unpredictable in the range of parameters studied here it is hypothesized that the unpredictability is associated with annual to decadal climate variability our results demonstrate that several types of recovery may exist with the same kind of perturbation the interpretation of events observed in proxy data may be thus more complex than realized until now since the magnitude and duration of climatic events caused by freshwater pulses is likely to depend strongly on nonlinear dynamics inside the coupled atmosphere sea ice ocean system index terms 3344 meteorology and atmospheric dynamics paleoclimatology 4255 oceanography general numerical modeling 4532 oceanography physical general circulation 4215 oceanography general climate and interannual variability 3309 9325 information related to geographic region atlantic ocean keywords holocene thermohaline circulation predictability meltwater coupled climate model

geochemistry of historical age silicic tephras in iceland the major element chemistry of nine silicic tephras of historical age from iceland is assessed as a key step in the development of the recent tephrochronology of the north atlantic region the tephras include the largest such layers produced by each of the five central volcanoes hekla o raefajokull eyjafjallajokull torfajokull and askja since the ninth century ad h 1104 o1362 e 1821 landnam tephra c 870 a 1875 and four other tephras h 1158 h 1510 h 1947 o1727 the determination of grain discrete major element chemistry of the glass fraction is a fundamental stage in the identification and correlation of tephra and allows links to be made between icelandic source areas with precise dating evidence and distal deposits elsewhere in the north atlantic region although major element data can be used to discriminate between tephra layers produced by the different central volcanoes on its own it cannot be used to identify all the holocene layers produc

the plinian eruptions of 1912 at novarupta katmai national park alaska the three day eruption at novarupta in 1912 consisted of three discrete episodes episode i began with plinian dispersal of rhyolitic fallout layer a and contemporaneous emplacement of rhyolitic ignimbrites and associated proximal veneers the plinian column was sustained throughout most of the interval of ash flow generation in spite of progressive increases in the proportions of dacitic and andesitic ejecta at the expense of rhyolite accordingly plinian layer b which fell in unbroken continuity with purely rhyolitic layer a is zoned from 99 to 15 rhyolite and accumulated synchronously with emplacement of the correspondingly zoned ash flow sequence in mageik creek and the valley of ten thousand smokes vtts only the andesiterichest flow units that cap the flow sequence lack a widespread fallout equivalent indicating that ignimbrite emplacement barely outlasted the plinian phase on near vent ridges the passing ash flows left proximal ignimbrite veneers that share the compositional zonation of their valley filling equivalents but exhibit evidence for turbulent deposition and recurrent scour episode ii began after a break of a few hours and was dominated by plinian dispersal of dacitic layers c and d punctuated by minor proximal intraplinian flows and surges after another break dacitic layers f and g resulted from a third plinian episode iii intercalated with these proximally are thin intraplinian ignimbrites and several andesite rich fall flow layers both cd and fg were ejected from an inner vent 400 m wide nested within that of episode i into which the rhyolitic lava dome novarupta was still later extruded two finer grained ash layers settled from composite regional dust clouds layer e which accumulated during the d f hiatus includes a contribution from small contemporaneous ash flows and layer h settled after the main eruption was over both are distinct layers in and near the vtts but distally they merge with cd and fg respectively they are largely dacitic but include rhyolitic shards that erupted during episode i and were kept aloft by atmospheric turbulence published models yield column heights of 23 26 km for a 22 25 km for cd and 17 23 km for fg and peak mass eruption rates of 0 7 1x108 0 6 2x108 and 0 2 0 4x108 kg s 1 respectively fallout volumes adjusted to reflect calculated redistribution of rhyolitic glass shards are 8 8 km3 4 8 km3 and 3 4 km3 for episodes i ii and iii microprobe analyses of glass show that as much as 0 4 km3 of rhyolitic glass shards from eruptive episode i fell with cde and 1 1 km3 with fgh most of the rhyolitic ash in the dacitic fallout layers fell far downwind se of the vent near the rhyolite dominated ignimbrite however nearly all of layers e and h are dacitic showing that the downwind rhyolitic ash is of co plinian rather than co ignimbrite origin

volcanic ash from the 1362 a d oraefajokull eruption iceland in the greenland ice sheet a continuous record of electrical conductivity measurements ecm was made on site during the drilling of a 200 m ice core at summit greenland and was used to identify horizons in the ice that might be linked to volcanic eruptions in one detailed section that we studied a large peak in the number of particles two orders of magnitude above the background was measured the particle peak was not associated with an ecm peak however the particles were identified as volcanic ash on the basis of both particle morphology and chemical composition the ash composition suggests an explosive rhyolitic eruption and is believed to have originatedfrom oraefajokull in iceland in 1362 a d

sedimentological analysis of the tephra from the 12 15 august 1991 eruption of hudson volcano the tephra fallout from the 12 15 august 1991 explosive eruption of hudson volcano cordillera de los andes 45 54 s 72 58 w chile was dispersed on a narrow elongated ese sector of patagonia covering an area on land of more than 100 000 km2 the elongated shape of the deposit together with the relatively coarse mean and median values of the particles at a considerable distance from the vent were the result of strong winds blowing to the southeast during the eruption the thickness of the fall deposit decreases up to 250 km ese from hudson volcano where it begins to thicken again secondary maxima are well developed at approximately 500 km from the vent secondary maxima together with grainsize bimodality in individual layers and in the bulk deposit suggest that particle aggregation played an important role in tephra sedimentation the fallout deposit is well stratified with alternating fine grained and coarsegrained layers which is probably a result of strong eruptive pulses followed by relatively calm periods and or changes in the eruptive style from plinian to phreatoplinian the tephra is mostly composed of juvenile material the coarse mode mostly pumice shifts to finer sizes with distance from the volcano the fine mode mostly glass shards is always about 5 6 phi glass shards and pumice are mostly light gray to colorless however considerable amounts of dark poorly vesiculated blocky shards suggest a hydromagmatic component in the eruption a land based tephra volume of 4 35 km3 was estimated and a total volume of 7 6 km3 arose from an extrapolation which took into account the probable volume sedimented in the sea bulk density ranges from 0 9 to 1 10 gr cm3 beyond 110 km from the vent rather uniform density values measured in crushed samples 2 45 2 50 gr cm3 at all distances from the vent reveal a relatively homogeneous composition mean and median sizes decrease rapidly up to 270 km from the vent beyond that point they are more or less constant whereas the maximum size 1 phi shows a steady decrease up to 550 km a concomitant improvement in sorting is observed this is attributed to sorting due to wind transport combined with particle aggregation at different times and distances from the vent the hudson tephra fallout shares some strikingly similar features with the mount st helens 18 may 1980 and quizapu 1932 eruptions

a decadal scale holocene sea surface temperature record from the subpolar north atlantic constructed using diatoms and statistics and its relation to other climate parameters 1 a sediment core from reykjanes ridge has been studied at 10 to 50 year time resolution to document variability of holocene surface water conditions in the western north atlantic and to evaluate effects of holocene ice rafting episodes diatom assemblages are converted to quantitative sea surface temperatures sst using three different transfer functions spectral and scale space methods are also applied on the records to explore variability at different timescales diatom assemblage and sst records clearly show that decaying remnants of the laurentide ice sheet strongly influenced early holocene climate in the western north atlantic this overrode the predominance of milankovitch forcing which played a key role in the development of holocene climate in the eastern north atlantic and nordic seas superimposed on general holocene climate change is high frequency sst variability on the order of 1 3 c the record also documents climatic oscillations with 600 to 1000 1500 and 2500 year periodicities with a time dependent dominance of different periodicities through the holocene a clear change in variability occurred about 5 ka bp the sst record also provides evidence for holocene cooling events hce that in some cases correlate to documented southward intrusions of ice into the north atlantic

the weathering of volcanic tephra and how they impact histosol development an example from south east iceland abstract little is known about the impact of tephra deposits from explosive volcanic eruptions on soil formation and weathering processes in organic soils the weathering of tephra of basaltic and rhyolitic origin and their impact on icelandic histosols were studied through a combination of physical chemical and mineralogical analyses two sampling sites were selected according to the presence of the light coloured rhyolitic tephra from the oraefajokull eruption in 1362 ce and a dark coloured basaltic vei ivotn tephra from 1477 ce in the volcanically active area south of vatnajokull in south east iceland the determining factor of pedogenesis in the investigated histosols is the om but the influence of tephra and aeolian material from external sources must be taken into consideration the soils are the result of altered plant residues and volcanic material tephra and aeolian material plant remnants as well as the soil itself are protected from decomposition by the prevailing anaerobic conditions a low soil ph and the repeated addition of inorganic matter clay formation is low while metal humus complexes are predominant feo fed ratios indicated a generally low degree of weathering being higher close to the basaltic tephra the mineralogy was dominated by plagioclase and pyroxene with quartz and zeolite as minor components in contrast to previous research on icelandic soils our investigations revealed layer silicates at both sites while we found evidence of smectite in the soils at kalfafell hydroxy interlayered minerals were found at reynivellir in the basaltic tephra traces of layer silicates could be verified in contrast the rhyolitic tephra did not show any pedogenic minerals suggesting that it had hardly altered since its deposition in 1362 ce it is not the chemical composition of the inorganic parent material but the location that may be an influencing factor on the formation of clay minerals in the investigated histosols

the bishop tuff new insights from eruptive stratigraphy the 0 76 ma bishop tuff from long valley caldera in eastern california consists of a widespread fall deposit and voluminous partly welded ignimbrite the fall deposit f exposed over an easterly sector below and adjacent to the ignimbrite is divided into nine units f1 f9 with no significant time breaks except possibly between f8 and f9 maximum clast sizes are compared with other deposits where accumulation rates are known or inferred to estimate an accumulation time for f1 f8 as ca 90 hrs the ignimbrite ig is divided into chronologically and or geographically distinct packages of material earlier packages ig1 were emplaced mostly eastward are wholly intraplinian coeval with fall units f2 f8 lack phenocrystic pyroxenes and contain few or no glass mountain derived rhyolite lithic fragments earlier packages ig2 were erupted mostly to the north and east are at least partly intraplinian interbedded with fall unit f9 to the east contain pyroxenes and have lithic fractions rich in g

holocene tephras highlight complexity of volcanic signals in greenland ice cores 1 acidity peaks in greenland ice cores have been used as critical reference horizons for synchronizing ice core records aiding the construction of a single greenland ice core chronology gicc05 for the holocene guided by gicc05 we examined sub sections of three greenland cores in the search for tephra from specific eruptions that might facilitate the linkage of ice core records the dating of prehistoric tephras and the understanding of the eruptions here we report the identification of 14 horizons with tephra particles including 11 that have not previously been reported from the north atlantic region and that have the potential to be valuable isochrons the positions of tephras whose major element data are consistent with ash from the katmai ad 1912 and oraefajokull ad 1362 eruptions confirm the annually resolved ice core chronology for the last 700 years we provide a more refined date for the so called ad860b tephra a widespread isochron found across nw europe and present new evidence relating to the 17th century bc thera aniakchak debate that shows n american eruptions likely contributed to the acid signals at this time our results emphasize the variable spatial and temporal distributions of volcanic products in greenland ice that call for a more cautious approach in the attribution of acid signals to specific eruptive events

stability of a cold core eddy in the presence of convection hydrostatic versus nonhydrostatic modeling geostrophic eddies in a stratified liquid are susceptible to baroclinic instabilities in this paper the authors consider these instabilities when such an eddy is simultaneously cooled homogeneously from above as a linear stability analysis shows the developing convection modifies the background stratification the stability boundaries and the patterns of the dominant modes the coupling between the effects of convection and the largescale flow development of the eddy is studied through high resolution numerical simulations using both nonhydrostatic and hydrostatic models in the latter models several forms of convective adjustment are used to model convection both types of models confirm the development of the dominant modes and indicate that their nonlinear interaction leads to localized intense convection by comparing nonhydrostatic and hydrostatic simulations of the flow development carefully it is shown that convective adjustment may lead to erroneous smallscale variability a simple alternative formulation of convective adjustment is able to give a substantial improvement

variability and multiple equilibria of the thermohaline circulation associated with deep water formation abstract in this study the variability of the thermohaline circulation on decadal and centennial time scales that is related to the process of deep water formation is investigated this is done within the context of a simple geostrophic three layer ocean model with a rectangular closed basin when slowly varying the atmospheric forcing the model response shows sudden transitions characterized by local changes in convective activity many different equilibria were found within the thermally driven regime in stommel s sense i e downwelling occurs near the poles next the deep water formation process was analyzed with a one dimensional box model in this box model four different regimes can be identified convective nonconvective periodic and a regime where both convection and no convection are possible with the same mixed boundary conditions these regimes were identified in the circulation of the ocean model a region was traced where convection is possible according to the authors analysis but

european and mediterranean hydroclimate responses to tropical volcanic forcing over the last millennium nasa modeling analysis and prediction program noaa climate change data and detection program na10oar4310123 national science foundation division of atmospheric and geospace sciences nsf ags 15 02224 ldeo climate center and climate and life initiatives ags 12 03818 ags 13 03976

pre eruptive volatile content degassing paths and depressurisation explaining the transition in style at the subglacial rhyolitic eruption of dalakvisl south iceland many volcanoes express a variety of contrasting eruptive styles with behavioural transitions between explosive and effusive activities understanding eruptive mechanisms is of key importance but we currently have little insight into the behavioural controls for rhyolitic eruptions beneath ice this paper addresses a subglacial rhyolitic eruption at dalakvisl in south iceland that involved both explosive and effusive activities we present measurements of pre and post eruptive magmatic volatile contents that we use to track magma degassing from the chamber to the surface and reconstruct pressure conditions during the eruption explosive and effusive phases involve significant differences in 1 pre eruptive volatile contents 2 the openness of magma degassing and 3 inferred confining pressure this final factor is potentially associated with a jokulhlaup induced decompression due to the combination of these factors dalakvisl experienced a change from effusive to explosive behaviour although we cannot currently resolve cause from effect our work points towards complex interactions between the dynamics of magma ascent and the response of overlying ice and meltwater during rhyolitic eruptions beneath ice

the physical volcanology of the 1600 eruption of huaynaputina southern peru volcan huaynaputina is a group of four vents located at 16 36 s 70 51 w in southern peru that produced one of the largest eruptions of historical times when 11 km3 of magma was erupted during the period 19 february to 6 march 1600 the main eruptive vents are located at 4200 m within an erosion modified amphitheater of a significantly older stratovolcano the eruption proceeded in three stages stage i was an 20 h sustained plinian eruption on 19 20 february that produced an extensive dacite pumice fall deposit magma volume 2 6 km3 throughout medial distal and distal parts of the dispersal area a fine grained plinian ashfall unit overlies the pumice fall deposit this very widespread ash magma volume 6 2 km3 has been recognized in antarctic ice cores a short period of quiescence allowed local erosion of the uppermost stage i deposits and was followed by renewed but intermittent explosive activity between 22 and 26 february stage ii this activity resulted in intercalated pyroclastic flow and pumice fall deposits 1 km3 the flow deposits are valley confined whereas associated co ignimbrite ash fall is found overlying the plinian ash deposit following another period of quiescence vulcanian type explosions of stage iii commenced on 28 february and produced crudely bedded ash lapilli and bombs of dense dacite 1 km3 activity ceased on 6 march compositions erupted are predominantly high k dacites with a phenocryst assemblage of plagioclase hornblende biotite fe ti oxides apatite major elements are broadly similar in all three stages but there are a few important differences stage i pumice has less evolved glass compositions 73 sio2 lower crystal contents 17 20 lower density 1 0 1 3 g cm3 and phase equilibria suggest higher temperature and volatile contents stage ii and stage iii juvenile clasts have more evolved glass 76 sio2 compositions higher crystal contents 25 35 higher densities up to 2 2 g cm3 and lower temperature and volatile contents all juvenile clasts show mineralogical evidence for thermal disequilibrium inflections on a plot of log thickness vs area1 2 for the fall deposits suggest that the pumice fall and the plinian ash fall were dispersed under different conditions and may have been derived from different parts of the eruption column system the ash appears to have been dispersed mainly from the uppermost parts of the umbrella cloud by upper level winds whereas the pumice fall may have been derived from the lower parts of the umbrella cloud and vertical part of the eruption column and transported by a lower altitude wind field thickness half distances and clast half distances for the pumice fall deposit suggests a column neutral buoyancy height of 24 32 km and a total column height of 34 46 km the estimated mass discharge rate for the 20 h long stage i eruption is 2 4 108 kg s and the volumetric discharge rate is 3 6 105 m3 s the pumice fall deposit has a dispersal index hildreth and drake 1992 of 4 4 and its index of fragmentation is at least 89 reflecting the dominant volume of fines produced of the 11 km3 total volume of dacite magma erupted in 1600 approximately 85 was evacuated during stage 1 the three main vents range in size from 70 to 400 m alignment of these vents and a late stage dyke parallel to the nnw sse trend defined by older volcanics suggest that the eruption initiated along a fissure that developed along pre existing weaknesses during stage i this fissure evolved into a large flared vent vent 2 with a diameter of approximately 400 m this vent was active throughout stage ii at the end of which a dome was emplaced within it during stage iii this dome was eviscerated forming the youngest vent in the group vent 3 a minor extra amphitheater vent was produced during the final event of the eruptive sequence recharge may have induced magma to rise away from a deep zone of magma generation and storage subsequently vesiculation in the rising magma batch possibly enhanced by interaction with an ancient hydrothermal system triggered and fueled the sustained plinian eruption of stage i a lower volatile content in the stage ii and stage iii magma led to transitional column behavior and pyroclastic flow generation in stage ii continued magma uprise led to emplacement of a dome which was subsequently destroyed during stage iii no caldera collapse occurred because no shallow magma chamber developed beneath this volcano

rapid climate transitions in a coupled ocean atmosphere model recent geochemical data1 2 have challenged the view that rapid climate fluctuations in the north atlantic at the end of the last glacial were caused by the thermohaline circulation of the ocean being switched on or off instead these data suggest that the circulation pattern must have switched between a warm deep mode and a cold shallow mode probably associated with different sites of deep convection3 here i present simulations with a three dimensional ocean model coupled to an idealized atmosphere which show this kind of transition the mechanism for the transition is a rearrangement of convection in the north atlantic triggered by a brief freshwater pulse this results in a drop in sea surface temperature in the north atlantic by up to 5 c within less than 10 years the rate of north atlantic deep water nadw forma tion is the same in the cold climate as in the warm climate but nadw sinks to intermediate depths only while antarctic bottom water pushes north to fill the entire abyssal atlantic

complex proximal deposition during the plinian eruptions of 1912 at novarupta alaska proximal 3 km deposits from episodes ii and iii of the 60 h long novarupta 1912 eruption exhibit a very complex stratigraphy the result of at least four transport regimes and diverse depositional mechanisms they contrast with the relatively simple stratigraphy and inferred emplacement mechanisms for the previously documented better known medial distal fall deposits and the valley of ten thousand smokes ignimbrite the proximal products include alternations and mixtures of both locally and regionally dispersed fall ejecta and numerous thin complex deposits of pyroclastic density currents pdcs with no regional analogs the locally dispersed component of the fall deposits forms sector confined wedges of material whose thicknesses halve radially from and concentrically about the vent over distances of 100 300 m cf several kilometers for the medial distal fall deposits this locally dispersed fall material and many of the associated pdc deposits is rich in andesitic and banded pumices and richer in shallow derived wall rock lithics in comparison with the coeval medial fall units of almost entirely dacitic composition there are no marked contrasts in grain size in the near vent deposits however between locally and widely dispersed beds and all samples of the proximal fall deposits plot as a simple continuation of grain size trends for medial distal samples associated pdc deposits form a spectrum of facies from fines poor avalanched beds through thin bedded landscape mantling beds to channelized lobes of pumice block rich ignimbrite the origins of the novarupta near vent deposits are considered within a spectrum of four transport regimes 1 sustained buoyant plume 2 fountaining with co current flow 3 fountaining with counter current flow and 4 direct lateral ejection the novarupta deposits suggest a model where buoyant stable regime 1 plumes characterized most of episodes ii and iii but were accompanied by transient and variable partitioning of clasts into the other three regimes only one short period of vent blockage and cessation of the plinian plume occurred separating episodes ii and iii which was followed by a single pdc interpreted as an overpressured blast involving direct lateral ejection in contrast regimes 2 and 3 were reflected by spasmodic sedimentation from the margins of the jet and perhaps lower plume which were being strongly affected by short lived instabilities these instabilities in turn are inferred to be associated with heterogeneities in the mixture of gas and pyroclasts emerging from the vent of the parameters that control explosive eruptive behavior only such sudden and asymmetrical changes in the particle concentration could operate on time scales sufficiently short to explain the rapid changes in the proximal 1912 products

on the mechanism of north atlantic decadal variability abstract north atlantic decadal climate variability is studied with a coupled atmosphere ocean sea ice model ecbilt after having reached an approximate statistical equilibrium in coupled mode without applying flux corrections a subsequent 1000 yr integration is performed and analyzed compared to the current climate the surface temperatures are 2 c warmer in the tropics to almost 8 c warmer in the polar regions the covariability between the atmosphere and ocean is explored by performing a singular value decomposition svd of boreal winter sst anomalies and 800 hpa geopotential height anomalies the first svd pair shows a red variance spectrum in sst and a white spectrum in 800 hpa height the second mode shows a peak in both spectra at a timescale of about 16 18 yr the geopotential height pattern is the model s equivalent of the north atlantic oscillation nao pattern the sst anomaly pattern is a north south oriented dipole additional experiments have revealed that the decadal oscillation in ec

volatiles in glasses from mauna loa volcano hawai i implications for magma degassing and contamination and growth of hawaiian volcanoes glasses from mauna loa pillow basalts recent subaerial vents and inclusions in olivine were analyzed for s cl f and major elements by electron microprobe select submarine glasses were also analyzed for h2o and co2 by infrared spectroscopy the compositional variation of these tholeiitic glasses is dominantly controlled by crystal fractionation and they indicate quenching temperatures of 1 115 1 196 c submarine rift zone glasses have higher volatile abundances except f than nearly all other submarine and subaerial glasses with the maximum concentrations increasing with water depth the overwhelming dominance of degassed glasses on the submarine flanks of mauna loa implies that much of volcano s recent submarine growth involved subaerially erupted lava that reached great water depths up to 3 1 km via lava tubes anomalously high f and cl in some submarine glasses and glass inclusions indicate contamination possibly by fumarolic deposits in ephemeral rift zone magma chambers the relatively high co2 but variable h2o k2o and s k2o in some submarine rift zone glasses indicates pre eruptive mixing between degassed and undegassed magma within mauna loa s rift system volatile compositions for mauna loa magmas are similar to other active hawaiian volcanoes in s and f but are less cl rich than l ihi glasses however cl k2o ratios are similar mauna loa and l ihi magmas have comparable but lower h2o than those from kilauea thus kilauea s source may be more h2o rich the dissimilar volatile distribution in glasses from active hawaiian volcanoes is inconsistent with predictions for a simple concentrically zoned plume model

a thermal oscillation under a restorative forcing summary the authors report an interdecadal oscillation in a wind and thermally driven ocean general circulation model ogcm the oscillation is tantalizing in that it occursunder a relatively strong thermal damping 26 3 w m 2k examinations involving a two dimensional ogcm a simple thermal flip flop model and a three dimensional ogcm with and without the nonlinear effect of temperature in the state equation of sea water demonstrate that the oscillation is not driven by mechanisms such as the so called convective oscillator or the advective overshooting oscillator instead the oscillation is associated with the propagation of modelled long rossby waves with westward phase velocity it is found that the north south basin extent of the ogcm is an important factor a larger northsouth basin extent is conducive to the generation of thermal wind flows crucial for initiating the propagation of disturbances the geophysical relevance of these results is discussed

the geology and petrology of volcan san juan nayarit mexico and the compositionally zoned tepic pumice abstract volcan san juan is the westernmost quaternary composite volcano in the mexican volcanic belt its activity is divided into three stages of decreasing eruptive volume during stage 1 activity the main cone of san juan and the adjacent cerro alto grew to a combined volume of 60 km3 through eruption of hornblende bearing andesites dacites and rhyodacites stage 1 included explosive eruptions of hornblende dacite and an andesite dated at 33 750 a years ago and 23 010 a stage 2 activity involved a major plinian eruption 14 770 a that produced the hypersthene hornblende bearing compositionally zoned rhyodacitic andesitic tepic pumice and led to formation of an oval shaped caldera 4 1 km in diameter tepic the capital city of nayarit state with a population of 250 000 lies at the ne foot of volcan san juan this location was buried under 2 9 m of rhyodacitic pumice fall deposits from the tepic pumice eruption erosion has since removed virtually all exposures of tepic pumice 15 km from the caldera the estimated volume of erupted tephra is 5 6 km3 equivalent to 1 2 km3 of magma modeling of the eruption dynamics indicates that as the eruption evolved the column height increased from 15 km to 24 km and maximum mass discharge rate increased from 3 106 kg s to 6 107 kg s during stage 3 activity a hornblende andesitic lava dome partially filled the caldera and sent block lava flows down the north slope of the cone total erupted volume was 0 55 km3 compared to other composite volcanoes of the western mexican volcanic belt the products from san juan have the highest sr contents and the lowest rb y yb and lu contents resulting in high la yb and sr y with low rb sr these observations indicate a strong slab melt component at san juan consistent with its proximity to the middle america trench where young hot lithosphere is subducting the san juan andesites dacites and rhyodacites also have relatively high 87sr 86sr 206pb 204pb 207pb 204pb and 208pb 204pb and low end values compared to these other volcanoes which appear to reflect significant crustal contamination of san juan s magmas

the eyjafjallajokull ad 2010 eruption and the preservation of medium sized eruptions in marine surface sediment offshore southern iceland the recent volcanic eruptions of eyjafjallajokull 2010 and grimsvotn 2011 demonstrated the risks that mediumsized explosive icelandic eruptions pose to the north atlantic region using the eyjafjallajokull 2010 eruption as a case study we assess how traceable such eruptions are in the marine sedimentary record at medial distances from the source and investigate which factors have affected the particle transport to the marine sedimentary archive during r v poseidon cruise 457 we recovered 13 box cores at 100 1600 m water depths and distances of 18 180 km southwest south and east of iceland volcanic glass shards from the uppermost surface sediment were analyzed for their major element composition by electron microprobe and assigned to their eruptive source by geochemical fingerprinting the predominantly basaltic particles are mostly derived from the katla grimsvotn lakagigar and bar arbunga vei ivotn volcanic systems we also identified rhyolitic particles from the askja 1875 and oraefajokull 1362 eruptions only three out of almost 900 analyzed glass shards are derived from the recent eyjafjallajokull 2010 eruption suggesting that medium sized eruptions are only poorly preserved in marine sediments located at medial distances southwest to east of iceland we conclude that the frequency of past medium sized eruptions is likely higher than detectable in this archive

complex circular subsidence structures in tephra deposited on large blocks of ice varða tuff cone oraefajokull iceland several broadly circular structures up to 16 m in diameter into which higher strata have sagged and locally collapsed are present in a tephra outcrop on southwest oraefajokull southern iceland the tephra was sourced in a nearby basaltic tuff cone at var a the structures have not previously been described in tuff cones and they probably formed by the melting out of large buried blocks of ice emplaced during a preceding jokulhlaup that may have been triggered by a subglacial eruption within the oraefajokull ice cap they are named ice melt subsidence structures and they are analogous to kettle holes that are commonly found in proglacial sandurs and some lahars sourced in ice clad volcanoes the internal structure is better exposed in the var a examples because of an absence of fluvial infilling and reworking and erosion of the outcrop to reveal the deeper geometry the ice melt subsidence structures at var a are a proxy for buried ice they are the only known evidence for a subglacial eruption and associated jokulhlaup that created the ice blocks the recognition of such structures elsewhere will be useful in reconstructing more complete regional volcanic histories as well as for identifying ice proximal settings during palaeoenvironmental investigations

a numerical study of turbulent mixing in eruption clouds using a three dimensional fluid dynamics model 1 the dynamics of eruption clouds in explosive volcanic eruptions are governed by entrainment of ambient air into eruption clouds by turbulent mixing we develop a new numerical pseudo gas model of an eruption cloud by employing three dimensional coordinates a third order accuracy scheme and a fine grid size in order to investigate the behavior of entrainment due to turbulent mixing the quantitative features of entrainment are measured by a proportionality constant relating the inflow velocity at the edge of the flow to the average vertical velocity i e the entrainment coefficient our model has successfully reproduced the quantitative features of entrainment observed in the laboratory experiments as well as fundamental features of the dynamics of eruption clouds such as the generation of eruption columns and or pyroclastic flows the value of the entrainment coefficient for eruption clouds is estimated from the column height and critical condition for column collapse by comparing results of our model with those of previous one dimensional models it is suggested that the value of the entrainment coefficient for an eruption cloud is approximately constant although the value estimated from the critical condition for column collapse k 0 07 is slightly smaller than that based on the column height k 0 1 this difference reflects the vertical change of flow structure in the eruption cloud the eruption cloud in the upper region exhibits a meandering instability which leads to efficient mixing whereas the cloud near the vent maintains a concentric structure with an inner dense core surrounded by an outer shear region our model is consistent with previous one dimensional models for steady eruption clouds supported by the laboratory experiments and it is also applicable to unsteady and transient features of actual eruption clouds

on the driving processes of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation because of its relevance for the global climate the atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc has been a major research focus for many years yet the question of which physical mechanisms ultimately drive the amoc in the sense of providing its energy supply remains a matter of controversy here we review both observational data and model results concerning the two main candidates vertical mixing processes in the ocean s interior and wind induced ekman upwelling in the southern ocean in distinction to the energy source we also discuss the role of surface heat and freshwater fluxes which influence the volume transport of the meridional overturning circulation and shape its spatial circulation pattern without actually supplying energy to the overturning itself in steady state we conclude that both wind driven upwelling and vertical mixing are likely contributing to driving the observed circulation to quantify their respective contributions future research needs to address some open questions which we outline

late quaternary icelandic tephras in ireland and great britain detection characterization and usefulness microscopic studies of late quaternary tephras from iceland yield a detailed tephrochronology in deposits of the british isles where the quantities of volcanic glass employed are much less than those used to construct almost any other late quatemary tephrochronology we summarize improved methods of isolating extremely sparse glass shards for light microscope and electron microprobe analysis and provide major element geochemistry for 20 volcanic glass layers detected in ireland including those which comprise an outline historic tephrochronology for ireland the paper highlights possible limitations of chronology construction when attempting to separate dated tephras whose major element geochemistries are almost identical tephras in other parts of the british isles and europe are used with those in ireland to demonstrate further applications of tephrochronology especially for dating deposits where other dating methods e g radiocarbon have proved difficult

stochastic stability of open ocean deep convection open ocean deep convection is a highly variable and strongly nonlinear process that plays an essential role in the global ocean circulation a new view of its stability is presented here in which variability as parameterized by stochastic forcing is central the use of an idealized deep convection box model allows analytical solutions and straightforward conceptual understanding while retaining the main features of deep convection dynamics in contrast to the generally abrupt stability changes in deterministic systems measures of stochastic stability change smoothly in response to varying forcing parameters these stochastic stability measures depend chiefly on the residence times of the system in different regions of phase space which need not contain a stable steady state in the deterministic sense deep convection can occur frequently even for parameter ranges in which it is deterministically unstable this effect is denoted wandering unimodality the stochastic stability concepts are readily applied to other components of the climate system the results highlight the need to take climate variability into account when analyzing the stability of a climate state