How an Alaskan Volcano Is Linked to the Decline of the Roman Republic
by Theresa Machemer/Smithsonianmag.com
The two years after Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 B.C. were rife with bad luck. The sky turned dark, the weather grew cold, and Mediterranean civilizations experienced drought and famine.
Now, a multidisciplinary team of researchers has pinned down an explosive explanation for these strange occurrences: As detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a volcanic eruption some 6,000 miles away from Rome may have thrown off the region’s weather patterns—and perhaps even contributed to the rise of the Roman Empire.
The new study combines evidence from ice cores, tree rings and historical records to identify an eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano in 43 B.C. as the cause of unusual weather following the Ides of March, reports Paul Voosen for Science magazine. The enormous eruption triggered an average 13-degree Fahrenheit drop in temperature across southern Europe and northern Africa.
“This is the second coldest year in the last 2,500 years—I mean, that’s not a small thing,” lead author Joe McConnell, a snow hydrologist at the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, tells Atlas Obscura’s Isaac Schultz. “And when you’re talking about an agrarian society that’s living close to the edge as it is, it had to have had a big impact.”
Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
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John and Gary, Once upon a time I lived on Adak, Alaska, an island in the Aleutian Island Chain. The volcano on the island next door, I think Kanaga, erupted during a very rare snow storm (the Pacific to the south of the island and the Bearing Sea to the north made for usually rainy conditions with gale force winds) and the next day the world was gray, not white. Of course all of those islands were created by volcanoes. It was interesting because Adak was west of that island. I have some awesome pictures of the development of the smoke from it….somewhere.
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