Editing Little Ice Age (section)

===Volcanic activity===
{{Main|Little Ice Age volcanism}}
In a 2012 paper, Miller ''et al.'' link the Little Ice Age to an "unusual 50-year-long episode with four large sulfur-rich explosive eruptions, each with global sulfate loading >60 Tg" and notes that "large changes in [[solar irradiance]] are not required."<ref name="miller2012" />

Throughout the LIA, there was heightened volcanic activity.<ref name="Robock1979">{{cite journal |last1=Robock |first1=Alan |date=21 December 1979 |title=The "Little Ice Age": Northern Hemisphere Average Observations and Model Calculations |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.206.4425.1402 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=206 |issue=4425 |pages=1402–1404 |bibcode=1979Sci...206.1402R |doi=10.1126/science.206.4425.1402 |pmid=17739301 |s2cid=43754672 |access-date=11 September 2023}}</ref> When a [[volcano]] erupts, its ash reaches high into the atmosphere and can spread to cover the whole earth. The ash cloud blocks out some of the incoming solar radiation, which leads to [[volcanic winter|worldwide cooling]] for up to two years after an eruption. Also emitted by eruptions is [[sulfur]] in the form of [[sulfur dioxide]]. When sulfur dioxide reaches the [[stratosphere]], the gas turns into [[sulfuric acid|sulfuric]] and [[sulfurous acid]] particles, which reflect the Sun's rays. That further reduces the amount of radiation reaching the Earth's surface.

A recent study found that an especially severe tropical volcanic eruption in 1257, possibly [[1257 Samalas eruption|Mount Samalas]] (pre-caldera edifice of the active Rinjani) near [[Mount Rinjani]], both in [[Lombok]], Indonesia, followed by three smaller eruptions in 1268, 1275, and 1284, did not allow the climate to recover. That may have caused the initial cooling, and the [[1452/1453 mystery eruption]] triggered a second pulse of cooling.<ref name="miller2012">{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Gifford H. |last2=Geirsdóttir |first2=Áslaug |last3=Zhong |first3=Yafang |last4=Larsen |first4=Darren J. |last5=Otto-Bliesner |first5=Bette L. |author-link5=Bette Otto-Bliesner |last6=Holland |first6=Marika M. |author-link6=Marika Holland |last7=Bailey |first7=David A. |last8=Refsnider |first8=Kurt A. |last9=Lehman |first9=Scott J. |last10=Southon |first10=John R. |last11=Anderson |first11=Chance |last12=Björnsson |first12=Helgi |last13=Thordarson |first13=Thorvaldur |date=30 January 2012 |title=Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130131509.htm |journal=[[Geophysical Research Letters]] |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=n/a |bibcode=2012GeoRL..39.2708M |citeseerx=10.1.1.639.9076 |doi=10.1029/2011GL050168 |s2cid=15313398}}</ref> The cold summers can be maintained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks long after volcanic aerosols are removed.

Other volcanoes that erupted during the era and may have contributed to the cooling include [[Billy Mitchell (volcano)|Billy Mitchell]] (c.&nbsp;1580), [[Huaynaputina]] (1600), [[Mount Parker (Cotabato)|Mount Parker]] (1641), [[Long Island (Papua New Guinea)]] (ca.&nbsp;1660), and [[Laki]] (1783).<ref name=aspects/> The [[1815 eruption of Mount Tambora|1815 eruption of Tambora]], also in Indonesia, blanketed the atmosphere with ash, and the following year came to be known as the [[Year Without a Summer]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thewire.in/the-sciences/is-the-meghalayan-event-a-tipping-point-in-geology|title=Is the Meghalayan Event a Tipping Point in Geology?|website=The Wire}}</ref> when [[frost]] and snow were reported in June and July in both [[New England]] and Northern Europe.