[1] Several state‐of‐the‐art general circulation models (GCMs) predict that large volcanic eruptions should result in anomalous dry conditions throughout much of monsoon Asia. Here, we use long and well‐validated proxy reconstructions of Asian droughts and pluvials to detect the influence of volcanic radiative forcing on the hydroclimate of the region since the late Medieval period. Superposed ...

The effects of large tropical volcanic eruptions on Indo-Pacific tropical variability are investigated using 122 historical ensemble members from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5. Radiative forcing due to volcanic aerosols in the stratosphere is found to increase the likelihood of a model climatic response that projects onto both the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and the Indian Ocean ...

An understanding of the formation of large magmatic reservoirs is a key issue for the evaluation of possible strong volcanic eruptions in the future. We estimated the size and level of maturity of one of the largest volcanic reservoirs, based on radial seismic anisotropy. We used ambient-noise seismic tomography below the Toba caldera (in northern Sumatra) to observe the anisotropy that we inte...

Submarine eruptions that lead to the formation of new volcanic islands are rare and far from being fully understood; only a few such eruptions have been witnessed since Surtsey Island emerged to the south of Iceland in the 1960s. Here we report on two new volcanic islands that were formed in the Zubair archipelago of the southern Red Sea in 2011-2013. Using high-resolution optical satellite ima...

Two volcanic eruptions in the Sumatra-Andaman arc that followed the disastrous M 9.3 earthquake of 26 December 2004 raise the question of whether these eruptions were triggered by the earthquake. Here we present new evidence to suggest that earthquake-induced decompression of the volcano magma systems leads to such eruptions. Numerical modeling reveals that other megathrust earthquakes induced ...

Silicic volcanic eruptions pose considerable hazards, yet the processes leading to these eruptions remain poorly known. A missing link is knowledge of the thermal history of magma feeding such eruptions, which largely controls crystallinity and therefore eruptability. We have determined the thermal history of individual zircon crystals from an eruption of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand. R...

Multiyear simulations with the atmospheric chemistry general circulation model EMAC with a microphysical modal aerosol module at high vertical resolution demonstrate that the sulfur gases COS and SO2, the latter from low-latitude and midlatitude volcanic eruptions, predominantly control the formation of stratospheric aerosol. Marine dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and other SO2 sources, including strong...

The eruptions of El Chichón volcano on 28 March and 3 and 4 April 1982 were observed by the Nimbus 7 total ozone mapping spectrometer due to strong absorption by volcanic gases at the shortest wavelengths of the spectrometer (312.5 and 317.5 nanometers). These ultraviolet pictures permit a measurement of the volume, dispersion, and drift of volcanic gas clouds. The tropospheric clouds were rapi...

[1] Some of the largest and most anomalous volcanic earthquakes have non-double-couple focal mechanisms. Here, we investigate the link between volcanic unrest and the occurrence of non-double-couple earthquakes with dominant vertical tension or pressure axes, known as vertical compensated-linear-vector-dipole (vertical-CLVD) earthquakes. We determine focal mechanisms for 313 target earthquakes ...

An 8 year volcanic SO2 emission inventory for 2005–2012 is obtained based on satellite measurements of SO2 from OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) and ancillary information from the Global Volcanism Program. It includes contributions from global volcanic eruptions and from eight persistently degassing volcanoes in the tropics. It shows significant differences in the estimate of SO2 amount and in...