1 Volcanic impacts on modern glaciers: a global synthesis 2 3 Iestyn D. Barr1*, Colleen M. Lynch2, Donal Mullan2, Luca De Siena3, Matteo Spagnolo3 4 5 School of Science and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK 6 School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK 7 School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK 8 9 *Corresponding author 10 Dr Iestyn Barr 11 Email:
[email protected] 12 School of Science and Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, M1 5GD, UK 13 Tel: +44 (0)161 247 1202 14 15 Keywords 16 Glaciers; volcanoes; volcanic impacts; glacier dimensions; glacier dynamics, hazards. 17 18 Abstract 19 Volcanic activity can have a notable impact on glacier behaviour (dimensions and dynamics). This is 20 evident from the palaeo-record, but is often difficult to observe for modern glaciers. However, 21 documenting and, if possible, quantifying volcanic impacts on modern glaciers is important if we are 22 to predict their future behaviour (including crucial ice masses such as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet) and 23 to monitor and mitigate glacio-volcanic hazards such as floods (including jökulhlaups) and lahars. This 24 review provides an assessment of volcanic impacts on the behaviour of modern glaciers (since AD 25 1800) by presenting and summarising a global dataset of documented examples. The study reveals that 26 shorter-term (days-to-months) impacts are typically destructive, while longer-term (years-to-decades) 27 are more likely protective (e.g., limiting climatically driven ice loss). However, because these events 28 are difficult to observe, particularly before the widespread availability of global satellite data, their 1 29 frequency and importance are likely underestimated.