The variable European Little Ice Age

Wanner, Heinz; Pfister, Christian; Neukom, Raphael (2022). The variable European Little Ice Age. Quaternary science reviews, 287, p. 107531. Elsevier 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107531

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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.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography > Unit Climatology
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography
08 Faculty of Science > Other Institutions > Emeriti, Faculty of Science

UniBE Contributor:

Wanner, Heinz, Pfister, Christian

Subjects:

500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
900 History > 910 Geography & travel

ISSN:

0277-3791

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Thomas Jürg Reist

Date Deposited:

07 Jun 2022 14:20

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 16:20

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107531

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/170359

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/170359

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