---
title: "22 major cooling events in 11,700 years: scientists link global climate shifts to volcanic eruptions"
description: "Researchers, publishing their work in Nature Communications, established that 22 global cooling events over the past 11,700 years were triggered by powerful volcanic eruptions that emitted sulfur into the stratosphere."
date: 2026-08-23T05:14:00.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/22-major-cooling-events-in-11700-years-scientists-link-climate-shifts-to-volcanic-eruptions
tags: [volcanic-eruptions, climate-change, nature-communications, paleoclimate, sulfur-aerosols, global-cooling, glaciers, stratosphere]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# 22 major cooling events in 11,700 years: scientists link global climate shifts to volcanic eruptions

![Volcanic eruption with a plume of smoke and ash linked to global climate cooling events](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/23/22-masshtabnyh-poholodaniya-za-11700-let-uchonye-svyazali-klimaticheskie-sdvigi-s-vulkanicheskimi-izvergeniyami/22-masshtabnyh-poholodaniya-za-11700-let-uchonye-svyazali-klimaticheskie-sdvigi-s-vulkanicheskimi-izvergeniyami-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- Over the past 11,700 years, Earth has experienced 22 major cooling events, which in more than 80% of cases coincided in time with powerful volcanic eruptions
- The key factor in prolonged cooling is not ash, but the emission of sulfur into the stratosphere, forming aerosols that reflect sunlight
- The cascade mechanism includes the expansion of sea ice, the slowing of Atlantic circulation, and the southward shift of the tropical precipitation belt
- The forecast for the consequences of a similar eruption under conditions of anthropogenic warming remains uncertain

A scientific team, whose findings were published in the journal Nature Communications, presented a comprehensive analysis of climate anomalies during the Holocene epoch. The researchers established that over the past 11,700 years, Earth has experienced 22 major cooling events, and in more than 80 percent of cases their chronology precisely coincided with periods of powerful volcanic eruptions. To reconstruct the picture, the scientists compiled a chronology of 51 major eruptions over 12,000 years and matched it with periods of mountain glacier expansion recorded in geological archives. The correlation proved statistically significant: in the overwhelming majority of cases, the advance of ice fell within the time interval immediately following a volcanic event.

### Ash is not the main factor: why sulfur determines the duration of cooling

The key finding of the study is that the common view of volcanic ash as the primary climate factor is an oversimplification. Ash settles on the surface relatively quickly and has only a short-term effect. According to the researchers, the true "engine" of prolonged cooling is the emission of sulfur into the upper layers of the atmosphere — the stratosphere. Sulfur aerosols, once they reach this altitude, effectively reflect sunlight and trigger the initial surface cooling. Although the sulfur particles themselves are washed out of the atmosphere within a few years, the system has already shifted into a new state that maintains low temperatures for decades and even centuries.

### The cascade mechanism: from the stratosphere to a shift in the rain belt

The scientists described a multi-stage scenario by which prolonged cooling unfolds. At the first stage, sulfur enters the stratosphere and sharply lowers temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere. At the second stage, the area of Arctic sea ice expands: the bright ice surface reflects even more sunlight, amplifying the cooling effect. The third stage involves changes in ocean currents: the growth of ice blocks heat exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere and slows the circulation of water in the North Atlantic. At the fourth stage, the tropical precipitation belt shifts southward, leading to a prolonged dry and cold climate in the north. It is precisely the inertia of the ocean and sea ice, which respond an order of magnitude more slowly than the atmosphere, that provides the system's "memory" and allows mountain glaciers to expand significantly.

### Historical precedents: Samalas and Tambora

The researchers cited specific historical examples that confirm the described mechanism. It was most clearly manifested after the eruption of Samalas volcano in 1257 — one of the most powerful in recent millennia — as well as after the eruption of Tambora in 1815, the consequences of which led to the so-called "Year Without a Summer" of 1816. In both cases, the emission of sulfur into the stratosphere triggered a cascade of climate changes recorded in historical and paleoclimate records.

### Why the forecast for the present day remains uncertain

Despite the clarity of the mechanism under the "natural" climate conditions of the Holocene, the scientists caution against direct extrapolations to the present day. Anthropogenic global warming and changes in atmospheric composition have made the modern climate substantially different from the one in which the described patterns formed. It is still unknown whether a powerful eruption in the 21st century could halt the warming trend or merely temporarily disrupt global temperature dynamics, after which the system would return to increasing heating. According to the authors, this question remains open and requires further research that accounts for current anthropogenic factors.

## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification

- [Earth experienced 22 global freeze events: scientists find the true cause](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/zemlya-perezhila-22-globalni-zamerzannya-1787136906.html) - РБК-Украина ссылается на публикацию в Nature Communications. Все ключевые цифры (22 похолодания, 51 извержение, 80% совпадений, 11 700/12 000 лет) и механизм каскадного охлаждения изложены последовательно и не противоречат друг другу. Исторические примеры (Самалас 1257, Тамбора 1815) соответствуют общедоступным данным.

## ❓ FAQ

### Q: How many major cooling events has Earth experienced over the past 11,700 years?
**A:** According to the study published in Nature Communications, over the past 11,700 years Earth has experienced 22 major cooling events. In more than 80 percent of cases, their chronology coincided with periods of powerful volcanic eruptions.

### Q: Why is sulfur, rather than ash, the main factor in cooling?
**A:** Volcanic ash settles on the surface relatively quickly and has only a short-term effect. Sulfur, once it reaches the stratosphere, forms aerosols that reflect sunlight and trigger the initial cooling. Although sulfur particles are washed out of the atmosphere within a few years, the ocean and sea ice respond more slowly and maintain low temperatures for decades.

### Q: How does the cascade mechanism of prolonged cooling work?
**A:** Sulfur enters the stratosphere and lowers temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere. The area of Arctic ice expands, reflecting more sunlight. The growth of ice blocks heat exchange and slows circulation in the North Atlantic. The tropical precipitation belt shifts southward, leading to a prolonged cold and dry climate in the north.

### Q: Can scientists forecast the consequences of a powerful eruption under modern conditions?
**A:** The scientists caution that the forecast is significantly more complex than under the natural climate conditions of the Holocene. Due to anthropogenic warming and changes in atmospheric composition, it is unknown whether an eruption will halt the warming trend or merely temporarily disrupt temperature dynamics.

### Q: Which historical eruptions are cited as examples?
**A:** The researchers pointed to the eruptions of Samalas volcano in 1257 and Tambora in 1815. Both events led to large-scale climate changes recorded in historical and paleoclimate records.