Articles | Volume 17, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2119-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2119-2021
Research article
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18 Oct 2021
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 18 Oct 2021

New insights into the  ∼ 74 ka Toba eruption from sulfur isotopes of polar ice cores

Laura Crick, Andrea Burke, William Hutchison, Mika Kohno, Kathryn A. Moore, Joel Savarino, Emily A. Doyle, Sue Mahony, Sepp Kipfstuhl, James W. B. Rae, Robert C. J. Steele, R. Stephen J. Sparks, and Eric W. Wolff

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Subject: Atmospheric Dynamics | Archive: Ice Cores | Timescale: Pleistocene
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Cited articles

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Adolphi, F., Bronk Ramsey, C., Erhardt, T., Edwards, R. L., Cheng, H., Turney, C. S. M., Cooper, A., Svensson, A., Rasmussen, S. O., Fischer, H., and Muscheler, R.: Connecting the Greenland ice-core and U/Th timescales via cosmogenic radionuclides: testing the synchroneity of Dansgaard–Oeschger events, Clim. Past, 14, 1755–1781, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1755-2018, 2018. 
Aubry, T. J., Engwell, S., Bonadonna, C., Carazzo, G., Scollo, S., Van Eaton, A. R., Taylor, I. A., Jessop, D., Eychenne, J., Gouhier, M., Mastin, L. G., Wallace, K. L., Biass, S., Bursik, M., Grainger, R. G., Jellinek, A. M., and Schmidt, A.: The Independent Volcanic Eruption Source Parameter Archive (IVESPA, version 1.0): A new observational database to support explosive eruptive column model validation and development, J. Volcanol. Geoth. Res., 417, 107295, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2021.107295, 2021. 
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Baines, P. G., Jones, M. T., and Sparks, R. S. J.: The variation of large-magnitude volcanic ash cloud formation with source latitude, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D21204, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009568, 2008. 
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Short summary
The ~ 74 ka eruption of Toba was one of the largest eruptions of the last 100 ka. We have measured the sulfur isotopic composition for 11 Toba eruption candidates in two Antarctic ice cores. Sulfur isotopes allow us to distinguish between large eruptions that have erupted material into the stratosphere and smaller ones that reach lower altitudes. Using this we have identified the events most likely to be Toba and place the eruption on the transition into a cold period in the Northern Hemisphere.