The Northern Hemisphere cooled as volcanic particles reflected the sun's heat, forcing warmer weather fronts south which led to warming in Antarctica, the researchers said. Conversely, their research suggests that Southern Hemisphere eruptions could also have triggered abrupt warming in Greenland during the last Ice Age.
The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The Durham team said their findings showed that the potential effects of eruptions should be considered when predicting future climate change.
Previous research shows that there were several episodes of rapid and substantial Greenland warming of around 10C during the last Ice Age.
Such a rise could potentially have catastrophic consequences for the Greenland ice sheet and sea level rise if this were to happen today.
"Although this might not be an immediate threat, we should consider this new perspective regarding the effects that very large volcanic eruptions might have on future climate change," said James Baldini, lead author from Durham University's Department of Earth Sciences. "Current climatic background conditions are different now than they were during the last Ice Age as there are no large Northern Hemisphere ice sheets to amplify the effects of the original eruption.
http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2015/11/worlds-largest-ice-sheets-threatened-volcanic-eruptions
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