the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
| 30 Jan 2024
Possible impact of the 43 BCE Okmok volcanic eruption in Alaska on the climate of China as revealed in historical documents
Abstract. A massive eruption of Okmok volcano in Alaska has been recently discovered and precisely dated to have occurred in 43 BCE. Some Chinese climate records of 43–33 BCE in historical documents have been found that provide descriptions of observed environmental abnormities that appear to be consistent with the anticipated changes due to volcanic climate forcing. We provide full translation with discussions of the Chinese climate records that may be related to the Okmok eruption in this paper. We have converted ancient Chinese calendar dates to modern Gregorian dates and provided the latitudes and longitudes of the geographical locations mentioned in the records. We believe the detailed information contained in these records will be useful for further research on the climate impact of volcanic eruptions.
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-100', Chaochao Gao, 18 Feb 2024
The paper entitled “Possible impact of the 43 BCE Okmok volcanic eruption in Alaska on the climate of China as revealed in historical documents” compiles the Chinese documentary evidence of the potential climatic consequence following the Okmok eruption, which provides valuable complimentary for the McConnell et al. (2020) study and paleo-reconstruction check for future modeling investigations. I therefore recommend publication of the study after addressing the following issues:
- Due to the reducing documentary records as we go back in time, it would be helpful to compare and discuss the extreme climate during the years surrounding the Okmok within the long-term context of the last 2000-yr, especially the latest few centuries where the records are abundant. For example, how often is “snowfall and frost damage” during the 3rd month in more recent centuries in central China? How do the climatic consequences compare to those during the post-Laki years?
- One significant feature of the REACHES reconstruction (Wang et al., 2018) is the digitalization of the specific geographic location of the recorded events. Therefore, it would be nice to draw a figure illustrating the locations of the relevant climate consequences where the information is available.
- Numerous studies have been done on the spatial-temporal patterns of climate responses to volcanic eruptions, including Northern Hemispheric ones. A brief discussion of these findings, and how do they associate with the records synthesize in this study would be beneficial.
- It is important to also mention that climate in East Asia is governed by the complex interactions among various external forcing and internal modes, and volcanic responses can invoke but also easily overwritten by internal modes such as ENSO.
- Please add Guillet et al. (2023, cited below) and similar references on the direct observation of the volcanic eruptions’ radiative appearance to the discussion of Records # iii in 43BCE, since it is one of, if not the most critical evidence of the Okmok eruption’s influence in China.
References:
Guillet, S., Corona, C., Oppenheimer, C. et al. Lunar eclipses illuminate timing and climate impact of medieval volcanism. Nature 616, 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05751-z, 2023
McConnell, J.R., Sigl, M, Plunkett, G., et al: Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 117, 15443–15449, doi:10.1073/pnas.2002722117, 2020.
Wang P. K., Lin, K. E., Liao, Y. C., et al.: Construction of the REACHES climate database based on historical documents of China, Nature: Sci.Data, 8, 180288, doi:10.1038/sdata.2018.288, 2018.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-100-RC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Pao K. Wang, 30 Mar 2024
We thank Dr. Gao for her constructive comments that will lead to the improvement of our paper. We will implement all suggestions she recommended. Specifically:
- We will add paragraphs to discuss the climate conditions in the relevant regions in China in the post-Laki years. We will retrieve the climate records from our REACHES database and pay special attention to the frost or snowfall in the late spring season.
- This will be done. We have already begun the process of drawing the figure.
- We will add a few paragraphs summarizing the spatial-temporal patterns of climate responses to volcanic eruptions, including Northern Hemispheric ones.
- We will add this point in the revised manuscript.
- We will do.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-100-AC1
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-100', Philip Gooding, 19 Feb 2024
“Possible impact of the 43 BCE Okmok volcanic eruption in Alaska on the climate of China as revealed in historical documents” expands on existing studies of the Okmok eruption in two core ways: i) by adding evidence from China; and ii) by incorporating evidence from documentary materials (the "archives of society"). I agree with all the comments made by the first reviewer. In addition:
- Can the authors give a sense of how unusual the documentary reports on climate in China were in the years covered in the piece compared to those of in the circa 5 decades either side of the 43 BCE eruption? E.g. Was frost in the 3rd month common in the 1st century BCE, according to the records? I note that the first reviewer requested a comparison with more recent years, including after more recent eruptions (Laki, 1783). But, if the records allow, a comparison with more contemporaneous years would be useful as well. If it is not possible, then an explanation about the limitations of the sources would be beneficial.
- There are a number of small grammatical errors. I hope that the journal editors will work with the authors to eliminate these before publication.
I recommend that the piece be published after the requests for revision have been addressed.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-100-RC2 -
AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Pao K. Wang, 30 Mar 2024
We thank Dr. Gooding for his constructive suggestions that will lead to the improvement of our paper. We will do what he suggested, specifically:
- We will retrieve the records from REACHES database in the period of the first century BCE to examine the situation of frost and snowfall in late spring (3rd month). We will add our findings in the revised manuscript.
- We definitely will go through our revised manuscript more thoroughly to eliminate these grammatical errrors before we resubmit.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-100-AC2
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