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104-454: The glacier has been one of the most photographed glaciers in the park and many of these photographs date back to the mid 19th century during the late Little Ice Age . When compared with images taken over subsequent years, the glacier has obviously retreated substantially. In 1850, Grinnell Glacier measured 710 acres (2.9 km), including the area of The Salamander Glacier , an ice apron or shelf glacier that used to be attached to Grinnell, but

208-536: A La Niña -like configuration, but the data are insufficient to show how lake levels varied from year to year or what climatic conditions elsewhere in Australia were like. A 1979 study from the University of Waikato found, Temperatures derived from an O/ O profile through a stalagmite found in a New Zealand cave ( 40°40′S 172°26′E  /  40.67°S 172.43°E  / -40.67; 172.43 ) suggested

312-583: A high stand during the MWP. When human populations returned to the region, they encountered a land altered by climate change and had to reestablish ports. In the Iberian Central Range, there was elevated lake productivity and soil erosion, along with frequent intense runoff events. In Chesapeake Bay (now in Maryland and Virginia , United States ), researchers found large temperature excursions (changes from

416-625: A climate reconstruction based on glacial length shows no great variation from 1600 to 1850 but a strong retreat thereafter. Therefore, any of several dates ranging over 400 years may indicate the beginning of the Little Ice Age: The Little Ice Age ended in the latter half of the 19th century or in the early 20th century. The 6th report of the IPCC describes the coldest period in the last millennium as: "...a multi-centennial period of relatively low temperature beginning around

520-433: A globally-synchronous increased glaciation. Thus current evidence does not support globally synchronous periods of anomalous cold or warmth over this interval, and the conventional terms of "Little Ice Age" and " Medieval Warm Period " appear to have limited utility in describing trends in hemispheric or global mean temperature changes in past centuries.... [Viewed] hemispherically, the "Little Ice Age" can only be considered as

624-506: A gradual withdrawal, which was caused mainly by economic factors such as increased availability of farms in Scandinavian countries. Substantial glacial retreat in southern Europe was experienced during the MWP. While several smaller glaciers experienced complete deglaciation, larger glaciers in the region survived and now provide insight into the region's climate history. In addition to warming induced glacial melt, sedimentary records reveal

728-469: A grain-based diet. After Greenland 's climate became colder and stormier around 1250, the diet of the Norse Viking settlements there steadily shifted away from agricultural sources. By around 1300, seal hunting provided over three quarters of their food. By 1350, there was reduced demand for their exports, and trade with Europe fell away. The last document from the settlements dates from 1412, and over

832-533: A modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during this period of less than 1°C relative to late twentieth century levels. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of 2007 discusses more recent research and gives particular attention to the Medieval Warm Period: ...when viewed together, the currently available reconstructions indicate generally greater variability in centennial time scale trends over

936-486: A modest increase in overall carbon dioxide levels, some glaciers will remain until the year 2277. Gem Glacier , one of the smallest remaining glaciers in the park, is located on the Garden Wall above Grinnell. Repeat photography taken between the years 1938 and 2009 (as shown below) show that Grinnell Glacier has retreated significantly over that period. The Salamander and Gem Glaciers have shown little change in area over

1040-594: A nonrotatory piston corer. The samples also showed volcanic activity which caused forest regeneration between 650 and 800. The instances of volcanic activity near Lake Pompal indicate varying temperatures, not a continuous coldness, during the Little Ice Age in Mesoamerica. In the North Atlantic, sediments accumulated since the end of the last ice age , which occurred nearly 12,000 years ago, show regular increases in

1144-523: A notably warm climate in many parts of the world, that lasted a few centuries around 1000–1200  CE , and was followed by a decline of temperature levels till between around 1500–1700  CE the coldest phase since the last ice age occurred. The era of warmer temperatures became known as the Medieval Warm Period and the subsequent cold period the Little Ice Age (LIA). However, the view that

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1248-481: A period of increased flooding, coinciding with the MWP, in eastern Europe that is attributed to enhanced precipitation from a positive phase NAO. Other impacts of climate change can be less apparent such as a changing landscape. Preceding the MWP, a coastal region in western Sardinia was abandoned by the Romans. The coastal area was able to substantially expand into the lagoon without the influence of human populations and

1352-568: A regional instead of global framing of climate variability in the preindustrial Common Era to aid in understanding. Lloyd D. Keigwin's 1996 study of radiocarbon -dated box core data from marine sediments in the Sargasso Sea found that its sea surface temperature was approximately 1 °C (1.8 °F) cooler approximately 400 years ago, during the LIA , and 1700 years ago, and was approximately 1 °C (1.8 °F) warmer 1000 years ago, during

1456-462: A stable oxygen (δ O) and carbon (δ C) isotope record at a decadal resolution from the Roman Warm Period to the MWP and the LIA . Patterson et al. conclude that the summer temperature stayed high but winter temperature decreased after the initial settlement of Iceland. The Mann et al. study found warmth exceeding 1961–1990 levels in southern Greenland and parts of North America during

1560-430: A tamperature nadir around 135 BP, and in south-central Alaska, mountain hemlock forests severely declined. In Glacier National Park , the last episode of glacier advance came in the late 18th and the early 19th centuries. In 1879, the famed naturalist John Muir found that Glacier Bay ice had retreated 48 miles (77 km). In Chesapeake Bay , Maryland , large temperature excursions were possibly related to changes in

1664-654: A war of succession to the Bohemian throne. Animosity between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire (now Germany) added fuel to the fire. It soon escalated to a huge conflict that involved all the major European powers and devastated much of Germany. When the war ended, some regions of the Holy Roman Empire had seen their population drop by as much as 70%. Early European explorers and settlers of North America reported exceptionally severe winters. In southwestern Alaska, preexisting flexibility in foraging habits among

1768-638: A warm and humid MWP from 1,158 to 647 BP. Pollen from Madhya Pradesh dated to the MWP provides further direct evidence for increased monsoonal precipitation. Multi-proxy records from Pookode Lake in Kerala also reflect the warmth of the MWP. Sea surface temperatures in the Arabian Sea increased during the MWP, owing to a strong monsoon. During the MWP, the Arabian Sea exhibited heightened biological productivity. The Arabian Peninsula , already extremely arid in

1872-695: Is a hiatus between 1627 and 1640, which is before the main period of such subjects from the 1640s to the 1660s. That relates well with climate records for the later period. The subjects are less popular after about 1660, but that does not match any recorded reduction in severity of winters and may reflect only changes in taste or fashion. In the later period between the 1780s and 1810s, snowy subjects again became popular. Neuberger analyzed 12,000 paintings, held in American and European museums and dated between 1400 and 1967, for cloudiness and darkness. His 1970 publication shows an increase in such depictions that corresponds to

1976-459: Is believed to be linked to a multidecennial phase of droughts in the western Mediterranean. In southwestern Europe, a negative North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) combined with increased aridity caused an increase in wind-driven sediment deposition during the LIA. In his 1995 book, the early climatologist Hubert Lamb said that in many years, "snowfall was much heavier than recorded before or since, and

2080-532: Is called the early Medieval Warm Period while MWP-II is called the conventional Medieval Warm Period. In 1965, Hubert Lamb , one of the first paleoclimatologists , published research based on data from botany , historical document research, and meteorology, combined with records indicating prevailing temperature and rainfall in England around 1200  CE and around 1600  CE . He proposed, evidence has been accumulating in many fields of investigation pointing to

2184-504: Is insufficient on its own to explain the MWP and that an external forcing had to be one of the causes. The MWP is generally thought to have occurred from about 950  CE to about 1250  CE , during the European Middle Ages . Some researchers divide the MWP into two phases: MWP-I, which began around 450  CE and ended around 900  CE , and MWP-II, which lasted from about 1000  CE to about 1300  CE ; MWP-I

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2288-404: Is now separate. By 1993, Grinnell Glacier measured 220 acres (0.89 km) and The Salamander measured 57 acres (0.23 km). Between 1966 and 2005, Grinnell Glacier lost almost 40 percent of its acreage. Glaciologists have predicted that if carbon dioxide levels increase at a worst-case scenario, all the glaciers in the park, including Grinnell, will disappear by the year 2030. However, under

2392-614: The Labours of the Months , typically placed on the calendar pages of books of hours . January and February are typically shown as snowy, as in February in the famous cycle in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry , painted in 1412–1416 and illustrated below. Since landscape painting had not yet developed as an independent genre in art, the absence of other winter scenes is not remarkable. On

2496-492: The LIA . Peak temperatures did not rise as to the level of the late 20th century, which were unprecedented in the area during the study period of 1600 years. Ge et al. studied temperatures in China for the past 2000 years and found high uncertainty prior to the 16th century but good consistency over the last 500 years highlighted by the two cold periods, 1620s–1710s and 1800s–1860s, and the 20th-century warming. They also found that

2600-561: The Swiss Alps were destroyed by encroaching glaciers during the mid-17th century. Canals and rivers in Great Britain and the Netherlands were frequently frozen deeply enough to support ice skating and winter festivals. As trade needed to continue during the prolonged winter often spanning 5 months, merchants equipped their boer style boats with planks and skates (runners), hence the iceboat

2704-557: The ocean circulation , variations in Earth's orbit and axial tilt ( orbital forcing ), inherent variability in global climate, and decreases in the human population (such as from the massacres by Genghis Khan , the Black Death and the epidemics emerging in the Americas upon European contact ). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report (TAR) of 2001 described

2808-540: The 15th century, with GMST averaging –0.03 [–0.30 to 0.06] °C between 1450 and 1850 relative to 1850–1900." Drangajökull , Iceland's northernmost glacier, reached its maximum extent during the LIA around 1400 CE. The Baltic Sea froze over twice, in 1303 and 1306–1307, and years followed of "unseasonable cold, storms and rains, and a rise in the level of the Caspian Sea." The Little Ice Age brought colder winters to parts of Europe and North America. Farms and villages in

2912-548: The Azores reflect the cooling of the LIA. Although the original designation of a Little Ice Age referred to the reduced temperature of Europe and North America, there is some evidence of extended periods of cooling outside those regions although it is not clear whether they are related or independent events. Mann states: While there is evidence that many other regions outside Europe exhibited periods of cooler conditions, expanded glaciation, and significantly altered climate conditions,

3016-507: The EASM and ENSO are responsible for increased precipitation in the region during the MWP. However, other sites in southern China show aridification and not humidification during the MWP, showing that the MWP's influence was highly spatially heterogeneous. Modelling evidence suggests that EASM strength during the MWP was low in early summer but very high during late summer. In far eastern Russia , continental regions experienced severe floods during

3120-712: The Elder painted Hunters in the Snow in Antwerp, so the mountains in the picture probably mean it was based on drawings or memories from crossing of the Alps during his trip to Rome in 1551–1552. It is one of 5 known surviving paintings, probably from a series of 6 or 12, known as “the Twelve Months”, that Breugel was commissioned to paint by a wealthy patron in Antwerp , Nicolaes Jonghelinck ( Hunters in

3224-615: The French invasion army under Pichegru marched on the frozen rivers of the Netherlands, and the Dutch fleet was locked in the ice in Den Helder harbour. Sea ice surrounding Iceland extended for miles in every direction and closed harbors to shipping. The population of Iceland fell by half, but that may have been caused by skeletal fluorosis after the eruption of Laki in 1783. Iceland also suffered failures of cereal crops and people moved away from

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3328-584: The Little Ice Age, which peaks between 1600 and 1649. Paintings and contemporary records in Scotland demonstrate that curling , ice skating and icesailing were popular outdoor winter sports, with curling dating to the 16th century and becoming widely popular in the mid-19th century. An outdoor curling pond constructed in Gourock in the 1860s remained in use for almost a century, but increasing use of indoor facilities, problems of vandalism, and milder winters led to

3432-541: The Little Ice Age, the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) became much weaker and the summer monsoon limit (SML) migrated southeastwards. Southwestern China became significantly colder and drier as a result of the weakening of the EASM caused by the decreased pressure gradient resulting from the cooling of the southern Eurasian landmass, while northwestern China, dominated by westerlies, saw an increase in precipitation. The temperature changes were unprecedented for

3536-489: The Little Ice Age. In particular, the Little Ice Age transformed environments around the Dutch Republic and made them easier to exploit in commerce and conflict. The Dutch were resilient, even adaptive, in the face of weather that devastated neighboring countries. Merchants exploited harvest failures, military commanders took advantage of shifting wind patterns, and inventors developed technologies that helped them profit from

3640-425: The Little Ice Age. The colder climate may have caused the wood that was used in his violins to be denser than in warmer periods and to contribute to the tone of his instruments. According to the science historian James Burke , the period inspired such novelties in everyday life as the widespread use of buttons and button-holes, as well as knitting of custom-made undergarments for the better covering and insulating of

3744-660: The Little Ice Age: livestock epidemics, cows that gave too little milk, late frosts, and unknown diseases. In general, the number of witchcraft trials rose as the temperature dropped, and trials decreased when temperature increased. The peaks of witchcraft persecutions overlap with the hunger crises that occurred in 1570 and 1580, the latter lasting a decade. The trials targeted primarily poor women, many of them widows. Not everybody agreed that witches should be persecuted for weather-making, but such arguments focused primarily not upon whether witches existed but upon whether witches had

3848-689: The MWP and three cool phases, two of which could be related to the LIA . Other research in northeastern Japan showed that there was one warm and humid interval, from 750 to 1200, and two cold and dry intervals, from 1 to 750 and from 1200 to now. The Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) was also enhanced during the MWP with a temperature driven change to the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO), bringing more precipitation to India . Vegetation records in Lahaul in Himachal Pradesh confirm

3952-539: The MWP display a strong correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The Norse colonization of the Americas has been associated with warmer periods. The common theory is that Norsemen took advantage of ice-free seas to colonize areas in Greenland and other outlying lands of the far north. However, a study from Columbia University suggests that Greenland was not colonized in warmer weather, but

4056-605: The MWP in the Southern Ocean lagged the MWP's onset in the North Atlantic by approximately 150 years. A sediment core from the eastern Bransfield Basin, in the Antarctic Peninsula , preserves climatic events from both the LIA and the MWP. The authors noted, "The late Holocene records clearly identify Neoglacial events of the LIA and Medieval Warm Period (MWP)." Some Antarctic regions were atypically cold, but others were atypically warm between 1000 and 1200. Corals in

4160-512: The MWP than during the LIA and 0.65 °C (1.2 °F) warmer than the decades before the study. The MWP has been noted in Chile in a 1500-year lake bed sediment core, as well as in the Eastern Cordillera of Ecuador . A reconstruction, based on ice cores, found that the MWP could be distinguished in tropical South America from about 1050 to 1300 and was followed in the 15th century by

4264-619: The MWP to LIA , was found for northeast and central-east China but not for northwest China and the Tibetan Plateau . During the MWP, the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) was the strongest it has been in the past millennium and was highly sensitive to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The Mu Us Desert witness increased moisture in the MWP. Peat cores from peatland in southeast China suggest changes in

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4368-656: The MWP was a global event was challenged by other researchers. The IPCC First Assessment Report of 1990 discussed the: Medieval Warm Period around 1000  CE (which may not have been global) and the Little Ice Age which ended only in the middle to late nineteenth century. It stated that temperatures in the: late tenth to early thirteenth centuries (about 950–1250  CE ) appear to have been exceptionally warm in western Europe, Iceland and Greenland. The IPCC Third Assessment Report from 2001 summarized newer research: evidence does not support globally synchronous periods of anomalous cold or warmth over this time frame, and

4472-572: The MWP was not a globally uniform event. Some refer to the MWP as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly to emphasize that climatic effects other than temperature were also important. The MWP was followed by a regionally cooler period in the North Atlantic and elsewhere, which is sometimes called the Little Ice Age (LIA). Possible causes of the MWP include increased solar activity, decreased volcanic activity, and changes in ocean circulation. Modelling evidence has shown that natural variability

4576-471: The MWP while nearby islands experienced less precipitation leading to a decrease in peatland. Pollen data from this region indicates an expansion of warm climate vegetation with an increasing number of broadleaf and decreasing number of coniferous forests. Adhikari and Kumon (2001), investigating sediments in Lake Nakatsuna , in central Japan , found a warm period from 900 to 1200 that corresponded to

4680-481: The MWP, which the study defines as from 950 to 1250, with warmth in some regions exceeding temperatures of the 1990–2010 period. Much of the Northern Hemisphere showed a significant cooling during the LIA , which the study defines as from 1400 to 1700, but Labrador and isolated parts of the United States appeared to be approximately as warm as during the 1961–1990 period. Greenlandic winter oxygen isotope data from

4784-729: The MWP. Using sediment samples from Puerto Rico , the Gulf Coast , and the Atlantic Coast from Florida to New England , Mann et al. found consistent evidence of a peak in North Atlantic tropical cyclone activity during the MWP, which was followed by a subsequent lull in activity. Iceland was first settled between about 865 and 930, during a time believed to be warm enough for sailing and farming. By retrieval and isotope analysis of marine cores and from examination of mollusc growth patterns from Iceland , Patterson et al. reconstructed

4888-573: The Ming dynasty's military, such as during the 1618 Battle of Fushun . Medieval Warm Period The Medieval Warm Period ( MWP ), also known as the Medieval Climate Optimum or the Medieval Climatic Anomaly , was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region that lasted from about 950  CE to about 1250  CE . Climate proxy records show peak warmth occurred at different times for different regions, which indicate that

4992-482: The Ming dynasty. This period of Little Ice Age corresponded to the period's major historical events. The Jurchen people lived in Northern China and formed a tributary state to the Ming dynasty and its Wanli Emperor . From 1573 to 1620, Manchuria experienced famine caused by extreme snowfall, which depleted agriculture production and devastated the livestock population. Scholars have argued that it had been caused by

5096-548: The North Atlantic have been noticed. The nature and extent of the MWP has been marked by long-standing controversy over whether it was a global or regional event. In 2019, by using an extended proxy data set, the Pages-2k consortium confirmed that the Medieval Climate Anomaly was not a globally synchronous event. The warmest 51-year period within the MWP did not occur at the same time in different regions. They argue for

5200-566: The North Atlantic, as did glaciers in Greenland . Anecdotal evidence suggests expanding glaciers almost worldwide. Based on radiocarbon dating of roughly 150 samples of dead plant material with roots intact that were collected from beneath ice caps on Baffin Island and Iceland , Miller et al. (2012) state that cold summers and ice growth began abruptly between 1275 and 1300, followed by "a substantial intensification" from 1430 to 1455. In contrast,

5304-574: The Snow and the Massacre of the Innocents , are thought to have been painted around 1565. His son Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564–1638) also painted many snowy landscapes, but according to Burroughs, he "slavishly copied his father's designs. The derivative nature of so much of this work makes it difficult to draw any definite conclusions about the influence of the winters between 1570 and 1600...". Bruegel

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5408-524: The Snow being for January): none of the other four that survive show a snow-covered landscape and both The Hay Harvest (July) and The Harvesters (August) depict warm summer days. Even The Return of the Herd (thought to be the painting for November) and The Gloomy Day (known to be for February) show landscapes free of snow. Burroughs says that snowy subjects return to Dutch Golden Age painting with works by Hendrick Avercamp from 1609 onwards. There

5512-410: The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , the eastern monsoon area of China was the earliest to experience the effects of the Little Ice Age, from 1560 to 1709. In the western region of China surrounding the Tibetan Plateau , the effects of the Little Ice Age lagged behind the eastern region, with significant cold periods from 1620 to 1749. As the Medieval Warm Period transitioned into

5616-583: The University of Arkansas discovered that many colonists arrived at the beginning of a seven-year drought. The droughts also decreased the Native American populations and led to conflict because of food scarcity. English colonists at Roanoke forced Native Americans of Ossomocomuck to share their depleted supplies with them. That led to warfare between the two groups, and Native American towns were destroyed. That cycle would repeat itself many times at Jamestown. The combination of fighting and cold weather also led to

5720-586: The Western United States. Aridity was more prevalent in the southeastern United States during the MWP than the following LIA, but only slightly; this difference may be statistically insignificant. Droughts in the MWP may have impacted Native American settlements also in the Eastern United States , such as at Cahokia . Review of more recent archaeological research shows that as the search for signs of unusual cultural changes has broadened, some of

5824-435: The amount of coarse sediment grains deposited from icebergs melting in the now-open ocean, indicating a series of 1–2 °C (2–4 °F) cooling events that recur every 1,500 years or so. The most recent cooling event was the Little Ice Age. The same cooling events are detected in sediments accumulating off Africa, but the cooling events appear to be larger: 3–8 °C (6–14 °F). δ O values from chironomid remains in

5928-402: The areas that were affected: Evidence from mountain glaciers does suggest increased glaciation in a number of widely spread regions outside Europe prior to the twentieth century, including Alaska, New Zealand and Patagonia . However, the timing of maximum glacial advances in these regions differs considerably, suggesting that they may represent largely independent regional climate changes , not

6032-553: The bay was still littered with so much floating ice that he could hide behind it in his canoe on 1 July. In the winter of 1780, New York Harbor froze, which allowed people to walk from Manhattan Island to Staten Island . The extent of mountain glaciers had been mapped by the late 19th century. In the north and the south temperate zones, Equilibrium Line Altitude (the boundaries separating zones of net accumulation from those of net ablation) were about 100 metres (330 ft) lower than they were in 1975. Southwestern Alaska experienced

6136-521: The body. Chimneys were invented to replace open fires in the centre of communal halls to allow houses with multiple rooms to have the separation of masters from servants. The Little Ice Age , by the anthropologist Brian Fagan of the University of California at Santa Barbara , describes the plight of European peasants from 1300 to 1850: famines, hypothermia , bread riots and the rise of despotic leaders brutalizing an increasingly dispirited peasantry. In

6240-517: The capability to control the weather. The Catholic Church in the Early Middle Ages argued that witches could not control the weather because they were mortals, not God, but by the mid-13th century, most people agreed with the idea that witches could control natural forces. Jewish populations were also blamed for climatic deterioration during the Little Ice Age. The Western European states experienced waves of anti-Semitism , directed against

6344-409: The climate became colder and stormier around 1250, their diet steadily shifted towards ocean sources. By around 1300, seal hunting provided over three quarters of their food. By 1350, there was reduced demand for their exports, and trade with Europe fell away. The last document from the settlements dates from 1412, and over the following decades, the remaining Europeans left in what seems to have been

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6448-545: The cold. The 17th-century Dutch Golden Age therefore owed much to its people's flexibility in coping with the changing climate. Historians have argued that cultural responses to the consequences of the Little Ice Age in Europe consisted of violent scapegoating . The prolonged cold, dry periods brought drought upon many European communities and resulted in poor crop growth, poor livestock survival, and increased activity of pathogens and disease vectors. Disease intensified under

6552-488: The coldest and driest periods in northern and central China (1660–1680, 1850–1880). Scholars have argued that one of the reasons for the fall of the Ming dynasty may have been the droughts and famines that were caused by the Little Ice Age. There are debates on the start date and the periods of Little Ice Age's effects. Most scholars agree on categorizing the Little Ice Age period into three distinct cold periods: in 1458–1552, 1600–1720, and 1840–1880. According to data from

6656-454: The conventional terms of 'Little Ice Age' and 'Medieval Warm Period' are chiefly documented in describing northern hemisphere trends in hemispheric or global mean temperature changes in past centuries. Global temperature records taken from ice cores, tree rings , and lake deposits have shown that the Earth may have been slightly cooler globally (by 0.03 °C or 0.1 °F) than in the early and

6760-419: The early patterns (such as violence and health problems) have been found to be more complicated and regionally varied than had been previously thought. Other patterns, such as settlement disruption, deterioration of long-distance trade, and population movements, have been further corroborated. The climate in equatorial eastern Africa has alternated between being drier than today and relatively wet. The climate

6864-687: The extreme weather. The colonist Ferdinando Gorges blamed the cold weather on cold ocean winds. Humphrey Gilbert tried to explain Newfoundland's icy and foggy weather by saying that the Earth drew cold vapors from the ocean and drew them west. Many others had their own theories for North America being so much colder than Europe; their observations and hypotheses offer insight on the Little Ice Age's effects in North America. An analysis of several climate proxies undertaken in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula , which

6968-478: The famine, disease, and social unrest that they were experiencing, and they blamed the innocent. Evidence from several studies indicate that increases in violent actions against marginalized groups, which were held responsible for the Little Ice Age, overlap with the years of particularly cold, dry weather. One example of the violent scapegoating occurring during the Little Ice Age was the resurgence of witchcraft trials . Oster (2004) and Behringer (1999) argue that

7072-499: The farming communities in China. According to Coching Chu 's 1972 study, the Little Ice Age from the end of the Ming dynasty to the start of the Qing dynasty (1650–1700) was one of the coldest periods in recorded Chinese history. Many major droughts during the summer months were recorded, and significant freezing events occurred during the winter months. That greatly worsened the food supply during

7176-544: The following decades, the remaining Europeans left in what seems to have been a gradual withdrawal, which was caused mainly by economic factors such as increased availability of farms in Scandinavian countries. Greenland was largely cut off by ice from 1410 to the 1720s. Between 1620 and 1740, the Yzeron Basin in the Massif Central of France witnessed a phase of decreased fluvial activity. This decline in fluvial activity

7280-424: The last 1 kyr than was apparent in the TAR.... The result is a picture of relatively cool conditions in the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries and warmth in the eleventh and early fifteenth centuries, but the warmest conditions are apparent in the twentieth century. Given that the confidence levels surrounding all of the reconstructions are wide, virtually all reconstructions are effectively encompassed within

7384-525: The last in 1850, all of which were separated by intervals of slight warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report considered that the timing and the areas affected by the LIA suggested largely independent regional climate changes, rather than a globally synchronous increased glaciation. At most, there was modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during the period. Several causes have been proposed: cyclical lows in solar radiation , heightened volcanic activity , changes in

7488-472: The late 17th century, agriculture had dropped off dramatically: "Alpine villagers lived on bread made from ground nutshells mixed with barley and oat flour." Historian Wolfgang Behringer has linked intensive witch-hunting episodes in Europe to agricultural failures during the Little Ice Age. The Frigid Golden Age , by the environmental historian Dagomar Degroot of Georgetown University , points out that some societies thrived, but others faltered during

7592-477: The lower class and women were forbidden from showing their knees. Other regulations affected the wider population, such as prohibiting dancing, sexual activities and moderating food and drink intake. In Ireland, Catholics blamed the Reformation for the bad weather. The Annals of Loch Cé , in its entry for 1588, describes a midsummer snowstorm as "a wild apple was not larger than each stone of it" and blames it on

7696-461: The main religious minority in their otherwise Christian societies. There was no direct link made between Jews and the weather; they were blamed only for indirect consequences such as disease. Outbreaks of the Black Death were often blamed on Jews. In Western European cities during the 1300s, Jewish populations were murdered to stop the spread of the plague. Rumors spread that Jews were either poisoning wells themselves, or telling lepers to poison

7800-655: The mean temperature of that time) during the MWP (about 950–1250) and the Little Ice Age (about 1400–1700, with cold periods persisting into the early 20th century), which are possibly related to changes in the strength of North Atlantic thermohaline circulation . Sediments in Piermont Marsh of the lower Hudson Valley show a dry MWP from 800 to 1300. In the Hammock River marsh in Connecticut , salt marshes extended 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) farther westward than they do in

7904-543: The mid-20th century. Palaeoclimatologists developing region-specific climate reconstructions of past centuries conventionally label their coldest interval as "LIA" and their warmest interval as the "MWP". Others follow the convention, and when a significant climate event is found in the "LIA" or "MWP" timeframes, they associate their events to the period. Some "MWP" events are thus wet events or cold events, rather than strictly warm events, particularly in central Antarctica , where climate patterns that are opposite to those of

8008-532: The native people lent itself to high adaptability to the LIA. Both Europeans and indigenous peoples suffered excess mortality in Maine during the winter of 1607–1608, and extreme frost was meanwhile reported in the Jamestown, Virginia , settlement. Native Americans formed leagues in response to food shortages. The journal of Pierre de Troyes, Chevalier de Troyes , who led an expedition to James Bay in 1686, recorded that

8112-490: The other hand, snowy winter landscapes, particularly stormy seascapes, became artistic genres in the Dutch Golden Age painting during the coldest and stormiest decades of the Little Ice Age. Most modern scholars believe them to be full of symbolic messages and metaphors, which would have been clear to contemporary viewers. All of the famous winter landscape paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder , such as The Hunters in

8216-486: The pond being abandoned in 1963. The General Crisis of the seventeenth century in Europe was a period of inclement weather, crop failure, economic hardship, extreme intergroup violence, and high mortality linked to the Little Ice Age. Episodes of social instability track the cooling with a time lapse of up to 15 years, and many developed into armed conflicts, such as the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). The war started as

8320-501: The population of each country. In Estonia and Finland in 1696–97, losses have been estimated at a fifth and a third of the national populations, respectively." Viticulture disappeared from some northern regions, and storms caused serious flooding and loss of life. Some of them resulted in the permanent loss of large areas of land from the Danish, German, and Dutch coasts . The violinmaker Antonio Stradivari produced his instruments during

8424-554: The presence of a "wicked, heretical, bishop in Oilfinn", the Protestant Bishop of Elphin , John Lynch . William James Burroughs analyzes the depiction of winter in paintings, as does Hans Neuberger . Burroughs asserts that it occurred almost entirely from 1565 to 1665 and was associated with the climatic decline from 1550 onwards. Burroughs claims that there had been almost no depictions of winter in art, and he "hypothesizes that

8528-452: The present day, was even drier during the MWP. Prolonged drought was a mainstay of the Arabian climate until around 660 BP, when this hyperarid interval was terminated. There is an extreme scarcity of data from Australia for both the MWP and the LIA . However, evidence from wave-built shingle terraces for a permanently-full Lake Eyre during the 9th and the 10th centuries is consistent with

8632-499: The present due to higher sea levels. Prolonged droughts affected many parts of what is now the Western United States , especially eastern California and the west of Great Basin . Alaska experienced three intervals of comparable warmth: 1–300, 850–1200, and since 1800. Knowledge of the MWP in North America has been useful in dating occupancy periods of certain Native American habitation sites, especially in arid parts of

8736-524: The resurgence was brought by the climatic decline. Prior to the Little Ice Age, witchcraft was considered an insignificant crime, and victims (the supposed witches) were rarely accused. But beginning in the 1380s, just as the Little Ice Age began, European populations began to link magic and weather-making. The first systematic witch hunts began in the 1430s, and by the 1480s, it was widely believed that witches should be held accountable for poor weather. Witches were blamed for direct and indirect consequences of

8840-547: The same conditions that unemployment and economic difficulties arose: prolonged cold, dry seasons. Disease and unemployment generated a lethal positive feedback loop. Although the communities had some contingency plans, such as better crop mixes, emergency grain stocks, and international food trade, they did not always prove effective. Communities often lashed out via violent crimes, including robbery and murder. Accusations of sexual offenses also increased, such as adultery , bestiality , and rape . Europeans sought explanations for

8944-451: The same period of time. The Salamander receives its name for its shape and its coloring, which comes from the serratia bacteria that grows on it. The glacier can be reached after a 6-mile (9.7 km) hike from a trailhead beginning at Swiftcurrent Lake . The trail has an altitude gain of just over 1,600 ft (490 m), with the majority of that in the second half of the hike. Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age ( LIA )

9048-413: The snow lay on the ground for many months longer than it does today." In Lisbon , Portugal, snowstorms were much more frequent than today, and one winter in the 17th century produced eight snowstorms. Many springs and summers were cold and wet but with great variability between years and groups of years. That was particularly evident during the "Grindelwald Fluctuation" (1560–1630); the rapid cooling phase

9152-536: The spread of diseases. The colder weather helped the parasites brought by Europeans in mosquitoes to develop faster. That in turn led to many malaria deaths among Native Americans. In 1642, Thomas Gorges wrote that between 1637 and 1645, colonists in Maine (then part of Massachusetts) experienced horrendous weather conditions. In June 1637, temperatures were so high that numerous European settlers died; travelers were forced to travel at night to stay cool. Gorges also wrote that

9256-513: The strength of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation . Because the Little Ice Age took place during the European colonization of the Americas , it discouraged many early colonists, who had expected the climate of North America to be similar to the climate of Europe at similar latitudes. They found that North America, at least in what would become Canada and the northern United States, had hotter summers and colder winters than Europe. That effect

9360-631: The temperature drops during the Little Ice Age. Despite the lack of food production, the Wanli Emperor ordered the Jurchens to pay the same amount of tribute each year. That led to anger and sowed seeds to the rebellion against the Ming dynasty. In 1616, Jurchens established the Later Jin dynasty . Led by Hong Taiji and Nurhaci , the Later Jin dynasty moved South and achieved decisive victories in battles against

9464-517: The timing and nature of these variations are highly variable from region to region, and the notion of the Little Ice Age as a globally synchronous cold period has all but been dismissed. In China, warm-weather crops such as oranges were abandoned in Jiangxi Province , where they had been grown for centuries. Also, the two periods of most frequent typhoon strikes in Guangdong coincide with two of

9568-585: The tropical Pacific Ocean suggest that relatively cool and dry conditions may have persisted early in the millennium, which is consistent with a La Niña -like configuration of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation patterns. In 2013, a study from three US universities was published in Science magazine and showed that the water temperature in the Pacific Ocean was 0.9 °C (1.6 °F) warmer during

9672-497: The uncertainty previously indicated in the TAR. The major differences between the various proxy reconstructions relate to the magnitude of past cool excursions, principally during the twelfth to fourteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. There is no consensus on when the Little Ice Age began, but a series of events before the known climatic minima have often been referenced. In the 13th century, pack ice began advancing southwards in

9776-438: The unusually harsh winter of 1565 inspired great artists to depict highly original images and that the decline in such paintings was a combination of the 'theme' having been fully explored and mild winters interrupting the flow of painting." Wintry scenes, which entail technical difficulties in painting, have been regularly and well handled since at least the early 15th century by artists in illuminated manuscript cycles that show

9880-538: The warming effect in fact lasted for only very briefly. Around 1000  CE the climate was sufficiently warm for the Vikings to journey to Newfoundland and to establish a short-lived outpost there. Around 985, Vikings founded the Eastern and Western Settlements , both near the southern tip of Greenland. In the colony's early stages, they kept cattle, sheep, and goats, with around a quarter of their diet from seafood. After

9984-415: The warming from the 10th to the 14th centuries in some regions might be comparable in magnitude to the warming of the last few decades of the 20th century, which was unprecedented within the past 500 years. Generally, a warming period was identified in China, coinciding with the MWP, using multi-proxy data for temperature. However, the warming was inconsistent across China. Significant temperature change, from

10088-645: The wells. To escape persecution, some Jews converted to Christianity, while others migrated to the Ottoman Empire , Italy or the Holy Roman Empire , where they experienced greater toleration. Some populations blamed the cold periods and the resulting famine and disease during the Little Ice Age on a general divine displeasure. Particular groups took the brunt of the burden in attempts to cure it. In Germany, regulations were imposed upon activities such as gambling and drinking , which disproportionately affected

10192-751: The winter of 1641–1642 was “piercingly Intolerable” and that no Englishman or Native American had ever seen anything like it. He also stated that the Massachusetts Bay had frozen as far as one could see, and that horse carriages now roamed where ships used to be. He stated that the summers of 1638 and 1639 were very short, cold, and wet, which compounded food scarcity for a few years. To make matters worse, creatures like caterpillars and pigeons fed on crops and devastated harvests. Every year about which Gorges wrote featured unusual weather patterns, including high precipitation, drought, and extreme cold or heat. Many inhabitants of North America had their own theories about

10296-519: Was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. The period has been conventionally defined as extending from the 16th to the 19th centuries, but some experts prefer an alternative time-span from about 1300 to about 1850. The NASA Earth Observatory notes three particularly cold intervals. One began about 1650, another about 1770, and

10400-478: Was aggravated by the Little Ice Age, and unpreparedness led to the collapse of many early European settlements in North America. Historians agree that when colonists settled at Jamestown , it was one of the coldest periods in the last 1000 years. Drought was also a problem in North America during the Little Ice Age, and the settlers arrived in Roanoke during the largest drought of the past 800 years. Tree ring studies by

10504-607: Was associated with more erratic weather, including increased storminess, unseasonal snowstorms, and droughts. Crop practices throughout Europe had to be altered to adapt to the shortened and less reliable growing season, and there were many years of scarcity and famine . One was the Great Famine of 1315–1317 , but that may have been before the Little Ice Age. According to Elizabeth Ewan and Janay Nugent, "Famines in France 1693–94, Norway 1695–96 and Sweden 1696–97 claimed roughly 10 percent of

10608-525: Was born. The first River Thames frost fair was in 1608 and the last in 1814. Changes to the bridges and the addition of the Thames Embankment have affected the river's flow and depth and greatly diminish the possibility of further freezes. In 1658, a Swedish army marched through Denmark and across the Great Belt to attack Copenhagen from the west. The winter of 1794–1795 was particularly harsh:

10712-458: Was drier during the MWP (1000–1270). Off the coast of Africa, Isotopic analysis of bones from the Canary Islands' inhabitants during the MWP to LIA transition reveal the region experienced a 5 °C (9.0 °F) decrease in air temperature. Over this period, the diet of inhabitants did not appreciably change, which suggests they were remarkably resilient to climate change . The onset of

10816-510: Was linked by its authors to Maya and Aztec chronicles relating periods of cold and drought, supports the existence of the Little Ice Age in the region. Another study conducted in several sites in Mesoamerica like Los Tuxtlas and Lake Pompal in Veracruz, Mexico show a decrease in human activity in the area during the Little Ice Age. That was proven by studying charcoal fragments and the amount of maize pollen taken from sedimentary samples by using

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