The Little Ice Age
The period between 1250 and 1860 is also known as the Little Ice Age. We have already reported on it several times here. The Little Ice Age was the undoing of the Franklin expedition, among others. In search of the Northwest Passage, the crew failed because of the ice, even though they had set off in summer. Franklin was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He paid with his death.
AI-generated Image. Source: Klimanachrichten
But what was the climate like at the time and what were the climate drivers? Volcanoes played a major role, but so did a minimum of solar activity. However, summers were by no means consistently wet and cool.
A study from 2022 looks at this topic. Here’s the abstract:
The Little Ice Age (LIA), which lasted from about 1250 to 1860 AD, was likely the coldest period of the last 8000 years. Using new documentary data and analyses of alpine glacier fluctuations, the complex transition from the Medieval Climate Anomaly to the LIA and the ensuing high variability of seasonal temperatures, are described and interpreted for Europe. The beginning of the LIA was likely different in both hemispheres. The low temperature average of the LIA is primarily due to the high number of cold winters. Conversely many summers were warm and dry.
Important triggers of the lower temperatures were, primarily, the numerous clusters of volcanic eruptions and the weak solar irradiance during the four prominent Grand Solar Minima: Wolf, Spörer, Maunder, and Dalton. The drop in temperature triggered the sea-ice–albedo feedback and led to a weakening of the Atlantic overturning circulation, possibly associated with a trend towards negative North Atlantic Oscillation indices.
The statistics of extreme events show a mixed picture. Correlations with forcing factors are weak, and can only be found in connection with the “Years without a Summer”, which very often occurred after large volcanic eruptions.
We must always bear in mind that several factors came together in the middle of the 19th century. One of the coldest periods in the last 8,000 years was followed by a climatic counter-movement. In addition, the industrialization of the world and the massive use of coal began. Land masses were reshaped on a large scale, such as during the colonization of North America.
This period also marked the birth of modern meteorology. During the Crimean War, France lost large parts of its fleet due to a storm for which it was unprepared. As a lesson from this, weather forecasts were made on the basis of data, of course in no comparison to today. However, warnings of storms were also possible back then thanks to the use of telegraphy. So a lot of things came together.
A recent study on the subject found that volcanism was predominantly “responsible” (51% involved), but that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which particularly influences winters in Europe, was also involved and that the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) at the other end of the world was even involved (28%). In any case, we would do well to remember that nothing in nature is constant and romanticized images from the period before the mid-19th century should be viewed critically. So the next time we hear the phrase “before industrialization”, please remember this article.
https://waltking.substack.com/p/saving-the-planet-a-draft-manifesto