Origin of the Little Ice Age (bomb, England, events, France)
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A 1275 AD eruption of the Samalas Volcano on Lombok Island in Indonesia has been determined to very likely be the eruption that triggered a global cooling event that included the "Little Ice Age" in Europe. Evidence is considered very compelling.
The Little Ice Age has been tied to crop failures and epidemics in Europe and resulting social upheavals.
It would have been nice to add a little more substance to your post...
This article discusses the method of what sustained the Little Ice Age. Basically, once sea ice began to form beyond normal ranges, it kickstarted a process of cooling...which led to more sea ice...which led to cooling...etc.
It was long theorized that volcanic activity had reduced solar input which is what started the increase in sea ice. What they didn't know was what eruption triggered everything to start. Now, they think they found it...
I was cautious about this thread since the OP provided no reason for bringing this to our attention. I feared that the ultimate result would be a politicized dust up about global warming.
But speaking of global warming, this suggests a solution. If adding volcanic ash and debris to the atmosphere is sufficient to block enough sunlight to trigger a mini ice age, then in theory we could retard global warming with another eruption.
Volcanic eruptions do not stage themselves for the convenience of humans, nor do we know how to trigger one. But we do have the means to duplicate the effects by firing off nuclear bombs, not enough to cause the calamity of nuclear winter of course, but just enough to fuzz up the atmosphere and reduce the heat.
Sorry about the brevity of the post. I only had a short amount of time.
Indeed, there is a lot of information about how the volcanic eruption triggered the Little Ice Age and how it lasted as long as it did.
The climatic changes that the civilized world has seen in the last 20,000 years are fascinating. There has been the flooding of the Black Sea, the drying out of the Sahara, the flooding of Doggerland, and the retreat of the glaciers. The younger Dryas and the Little Ice Age are just two more such events.
All of these event had dramatic and long lasting effects on the peoples that lived in and around those areas.
Events such as these have causes that some very smart scientists are working hard on figuring out. One of the real mysteries was what might have caused the Little Ice Age. I had been reading about this for some time and was eager to post the answer once I saw it.
It would have been nice to add a little more substance to your post...
This article discusses the method of what sustained the Little Ice Age. Basically, once sea ice began to form beyond normal ranges, it kickstarted a process of cooling...which led to more sea ice...which led to cooling...etc.
It was long theorized that volcanic activity had reduced solar input which is what started the increase in sea ice. What they didn't know was what eruption triggered everything to start. Now, they think they found it...
What sustained it was that the gulf stream was diverted south, and the northern reaches of Europe suffered from frigid temperatures. If you look at the normal clothes of people before, they were not heavily dressed. After clothes became multilayered and warmer. Another effect was to cause crops to fail and a weaking of the much of the population, which led to them being even more vulnerable when the black death came.
The little Ice age was brought up when the most recent volcanic activity happened in Iceland. The same island is potentially one huge volcano which has the capability of kicking us back to another ice age again.
So the volcanic activity was enough to cause a prolonged weather pattern shift? England hosted, at one time, a prime grape growing and wine making climate. Today, France and Italy are more suited for this. The preference of beer over wine in countries like England and Germany has often been attributed to this weather pattern shift.
This is not about the cause, but does address the circumstances of the Little Ice Age and how if affected Europe. I found it very interesting.
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