Sulfate aerosols in the context of "Volcanic winter of 536"

The volcanic winter of 536 was among the most severe and protracted episodes of climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last two thousand years. The volcanic winter was caused by at least three eruptions of uncertain origin, with several possible locations proposed in various continents. In early AD 536 (or possibly late 535), an eruption ejected great amounts of sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere, reducing the solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface and cooling the atmosphere for several years. In March 536, Constantinople began experiencing darkened skies and lower temperatures.

Summer temperatures in 536 fell by as much as 2.5 °C (4.5 °F) below normal in Europe. The lingering effect of the volcanic winter of 536 was augmented in the years 539 and 540, when another volcanic eruption caused summer temperatures to decline as much as 2.7 °C (4.9 °F) below normal in Europe. There is evidence of still another volcanic eruption in 547 that would have extended the cool period. The volcanic eruptions caused crop failures, and were accompanied by the Plague of Justinian, famine, and millions of deaths and initiated the Late Antique Little Ice Age, which lasted from 536 to 660.