By: Aldo Garcia

December 2, 2010

By: Aldo Garcia

Little Ice Age!

Photo courtesy of: wallpaperez.info

Methods of Studying the Little Ice Age

Scientific Analysis:• Ice cores• Volcanic eruptions • Tree ring investigations• Soil studies• Pollen analysis• Plotting of lichen diameters• Archaeological investigations

Social Records:• Records of town/village

developments• Church records• Tax rolls • Reports on ease of travel• Wine harvests • Cereal production

statistics• Grain prices• Fruit growing returns

Possible Causes for the Little Ice Age

• Low sunspot activity

• High volcanic activity

• Intensified North Atlantic Oscillation

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Graph courtesy of: Heaven and Earth.

Low Sunspot Activity

• Wolf Minimum 1280-1340

• Spörer Minimum 1450-1540

• Maunder Minimum 1645-1715

• Dalton Minimum 1790-1820

Volcanic Explosivity Index VEI describes the size of a volcanic eruption. The size is determined by the volume of erupted material, height of eruption, and duration in hours. Eruptions are measured by an increasing scale from 0 - 8, 8 being the strongest. Each level increases by a factor of 10. 31: 5-7

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• Tambora, 1815, with a VEI of 7, released over 100 cubic kilometers of ash.

• Long Island, 1660, with a VEI of 6, released 30 cubic kilometers of ash.

• Huaynaputina, 1600, with a VEI of 6, released 30 cubic kilometers of ash.

• Billy Mitchell, 1580, with a VEI of 6, released 14 cubic kilometers of ash.

• Bardarbunga, 1477, with a VEI of 6, released 10 cubic kilometers of ash.

Volume of Volcanic Ash Erupted

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Stratosphere: 11-30 miles above earth’s surface.Passenger plane cruises at about 5-9 miles above earth’s surface.

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Picture courtesy of: The Little Ice Age.

The North Atlantic Oscillation

• Azores high – clockwise

• Icelandic low – counterclockwise

Picture courtesy of: The Little Ice Age.

Picture courtesy of: The Little Ice Age.

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• Positive phase of North Atlantic Oscillation

• Negative phase of North Atlantic Oscillation

Conditions in the Little Ice Age• Erratic weather

• Glacial advance

• Winter carnivals

• Famine

• Deaths

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• Weather was unpredictable

• Very warm and dry summers some years

• Very cold and wet summers some years

• Cycles could last several decades, few years, or a single season

• Stretches of cold weather were interrupted by warm and wet periods

• According to Peter de Menocal, the North Atlantic cooled 3° C.

Wacky Weather

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Picture courtesy of: The Little Ice Age.

Glacial Advancement

The Allalin glacier, near Visp, descended so low that it blocked the Saas Valley forming a lake in 1589.l

The Giétroz glacier advanced into the Dranse River and

caused flooding in the town of Martigny in 1595.

The Ruitor glacier advanced 1 kilometer from 1594-1598

causing flooding in the valleys downstream.

The Mer de Glace glacier inundated the towns of Les Tines and Le Châtelard with

glacial melt water summer in 1599 and 1600.

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Picture courtesy of: The Little Ice Age.

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Picture courtesy of: The Little Ice Age.

Picture courtesy of: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1267757/Britain-facing-bitterly-cold-winters-drop-solar-winds.html

Picture courtesy of: http://www.suite101.com/content/the-first-river-thames-frost-fair-of-1683-a187964

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Winter Carnivals on the Thames River

• Rivers frequently froze in England and Scotland between 1700-1900.

• The Thames River in London would freeze in the winter months.

• The Thames River began to freeze as early as 1309 and 1315.

• Winter carnivals were a regular occurrence on the Thames River.

Famine

• Climate shift brought late harvests and wet summers

• Summer rains caused • waterlogged fields• premature germination• ruined and reduced crops

• Ireland and Scotland had major crop failures in the winter of 1708/1709

• In 1739, much of the corn and barley were lost due to cold and wet weather in northern England

• The Irish Potato Famine last 5 years and kills 1.5 million people

Graph courtesy of: The Little Ice Age.

Background courtesy of: http://indianapublicm

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• By 1440, wine growing had virtually disappeared in Great Britain.• From 1560-1600, the cooler and stormier conditions led to late wine harvests in Europe.• Between 1580-1600, wine production suffered in Switzerland, lower Hungary, and parts of

Austria.• By winter 1708/1709 all vineyards in northern France were abandoned until the 20th century

Wine Production in Europe

Human Survival in Harsh Conditions• Glacial advance causes harvest failures and

the deaths of 137,000 people in Finland.

• The Black Death killed over 25 million people throughout Europe.

• 2 million emigrate from Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

• People lived shorter lives due to malnutrition. • Archaeological evidence shows that people

were shorter in height than their medieval ancestors.

• Elderly and young suffered from accidental hypothermia.

• People begin to use cold resistant crops such as the potato.

• Bad health: tuberculosis, typhoid fever, diphtheria, whooping cough, pneumonia, bronchitis, heart attacks, strokes, typhus infections

End of the

Little Ice Age…

ends in as little as 10 years

ends due to a strong

ocean conveyor

ends due to less

volcanic activity

Photo courtesy of: http://w

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Bibliography

Fagan, Brian. Little Ice Age. USA: Basic Books, 2000.

Hoffman, Doug L., Simmons, Allen. The Resilient Earth. USA: BookSurge Publishing, 2008.

John, Brian S. The Ice Age: Past and Present. Great Britain: Williams Collins Sons and Co. Ltd. Glasgow, 1977.

Linden, Eugene. The Winds of Change. New York City: Simon and Schuster, 2006.

Plimer, Ian. Heaven and Earth. Lanham, Maryland: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2009.

Siebert L, Simkin T. Volcanoes of the World: An Illustrated Catalog of Holocene Volcanoes and their Eruptions. Smithsonian Institution, Global Volcanism Program Digital Information Series, GVP-3, http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/largeeruptions.cfm 2002-current.

The Little Ice Age: Bill Chill. Dir. History Channel Network. Perf. Edward Herrmann. 2005.