did you happen to look up the LIA or you just going to hang with your pi chart

 

I will do it for you


Winter severity in Europe, 1000 - 1900. Note two cold periods in the 15th
and 17th centuries. Based on Lamb, 1969 / Schneider and Mass, 1975.1
The Little Ice Age is a period between about 1300 and 1870 during which Europe and North America were subjected to much colder winters than during the 20th century. The period can be divided in two phases, the first beginning around 1300 and continuing until the late 1400s. There was a slightly warmer period in the 1500s, after which the climate deteriorated substantially. The period between 1600 and 1800 marks the height of the Little Ice Age. The period was characterised by the expansion of European trade and the formation of European sea born Empires. This was directly linked to advances in technology harnessing more of nature's power and towards the end of the period fossil-fuelled power. These two hundred years also saw the specialisation of agricultural regions, which produced specific products for local and international markets.

What caused the Little Ice Age?

Sunspots.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Maunder minimum
The cause of the Little Ice Age is unknown, but many people have pointed at the coincidence in low sunspot activity and the timing of the Little Ice. This so called Maunder Minimum2 coincided with the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, in particular during the period roughly from 1645 to 1715, when sunspots were a rare occurrence, as noted by solar observers such as Cassini and Flamsteed3. A minimum in sunspots, indicates an much less active and possibly colder sun and consequently less energy output to warm the earth.

Source: Robert A. Rohde/Wikipedia

Positive North Atlantic Oscillaion
North Atlantic Oscillation
The north Atlantic is one of the most climatically unstable regions in the world. This is caused by a complex interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean. The main feature of this is the North Atlantic Oscillation (NOA), a seesaw of atmospheric pressure between a persistent high pressure cell over the Azores and an equally persistent low presure cell over Iceland. This is the "normal" pattern, called a positive NOA Index, and brings mild and humid air to northwest Europe. Sometimes the pressure cells are trading places and that has severe consequences for the weather in Europe.

Negative North Atlantic Oscillation
When the situation reverses, called a Negative NOA (high over Iceland and low over Azores) the westerlies weaken or even reverse and cold air is streaming over Europe, causing a cold winter here. In negative NAO winters, it is much less stormy over the North Atlantic. Storms and low pressure systems bring humid air from the ocean into the Mediterranean region making it more unsettled in this regionn than normal. The small pressure difference allows northerly air to blow into Northern Europe making the winters dry and sunny but very cold here. There are strong indications that during the Little Ice Age the NOA was more often in a negative mode.
Volcanism
Volcanic eruptions are another possible cause for the Little Ice Age - for example, the year after the Tambora eruption in Indonesia (1815) was known as the "year without a summer." But, the effect of such eruptions might be limited to only a few years so this can not have been the cause for the prolonged climatic variations associated with the Little Ice Age.
After 1870 the Little Ice Age made place for the slightly milder conditions of the 20th century.

Marginal regions
During the height of the Little Ice Age , it was in general about one degree Celsius colder than at present. The Baltic Sea froze over, as did most of the rivers in Europe. Winters were bitterly cold and prolonged, reducing the growing season with several weeks. These conditions led to widespread crop failure, famine, and in some regions population decline.
The prices of grain increased and wine became difficult to produce in many areas and commercial vineyards vanished in England. Fishing in northern Europe was also badly affected as cod migrated south to find warmer water. Storminess and flooding increased and in mountainous regions the treeline and snowline dropped. In addition glaciers advanced in the Alps and Northern Europe, overrunning towns and farms in the process.
Iceland was one of the hardest hit areas. Sea ice, which today is far to the north, came down around Iceland. In some years, it was difficult to bring a ship ashore anywhere along the coast. Grain became impossible to grow and even hay crops failed. Volcanic eruptions made life even harder. Iceland lost half of its population during the Little Ice Age.

Rhone glacier ca. 1870. Source: Wikipedia
Tax records in Scandinavia show many farms were destroyed by advancing ice of glaciers and by melt water streams. Travellers in Scotland reported permanent snow cover over the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland at an altitude of about 1200 metres. In the Alps, the glaciers advanced and bulldozed over towns. Ice-dammed lakes burst periodically, destroying hundreds of buildings and killing many people. As late as 1930 the French Government commissioned a report to investigate the threat of the glaciers. They could not have foreseen that human induced global warming was to deal more effective with this problem than any committee ever could.

Flourishing of European culture
Despite the difficulties in marginal regions, culture and economy were generally flowering in Europe during the Little Ice Age. This is most visible in the way that people transformed their environment during the 17th and 18th centuries with expanding agriculture and large scale land reclamation, for example in the Netherlands and England.

Winter landscape by Brueghel the Elder.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The Little Ice Age also coincided with the maritime expansion of Europe and the creation of seaborne trading and later colonial empires. First came the Spanish and Portuguese, followed by the Dutch, English and other European nations. Key to this success was the development of shipbuilding technology which was a response to both trading, strategic but also climatic pressures.
Art and architecture also flourished, which is probably best embodied in the wonderful winter landscape paintings which can be considered a direct result of the Little Ice Age. These paintings show us skating people enjoying themselves, a sign that they were more than capable to withstand the hasher winter conditions and that they had also enough food.4 The latter is a key element in the success of European culture at that time

maybe a little more then you need but hey its free

 

No one asked for my under-educated input but... fuck, I am giving it. :excited:

Through out the history of the world, there are shifts in the climate. When the pilgrims landed in North America, we were in the midst of a mini ice-age (snow in june and july) and in Brazil (I think that was the one) at the same time, they were having such a terrible drought for 3 years that it destroyed the Mayan culture (again, I think that's the one. Been a long time since I researched this). Those were natural shifts.

The current shift, well, it's happening but is it another natural one? Is it being sped up by man? I don't know. I do understand that man does make an impact on nature and COULD be a contributing factor. Maybe not the cause but definitely not helping the mess. Cutting down huge swaths of trees and pollution do cause the world to become unbalanced. Basically, let me put it this way. Stand on a parking lot on a hot day... sweltering, isn't it? Now, go into a grassy park. The air temperature is the same but not as much of the heat is bouncing back up. Trees and grass help combat the radiant heat. Paving the world, well, it makes for more hot-spots. Does this add to the problem? Maybe. I think yes but again, I am not the most educated.

I also think the problem comes with the term "Global Warming". It implies everything just keeps getting hotter and while that is part of it, it's not the WHOLE shebang. Yes, things are getting warmer... and in places it really shouldn't (the ice floes and glaciers in Alaska). Other places are finding droughts, flooding, an increase in super-storms, or like the most recent here... extreme cold. Again, this could be a NATURAL shift and there is little to nothing one can do about it other than prepare. But if it's man-made...**shrugs** Prepare? Do our best to reverse a little of the damage where we can? I don't know.

I just know that the planet won't be sustainable forever if we aren't more diligent in protecting it but maybe we are past the point of return in some ways. This is the hippie in me talking. I know many people don't want to think of the future beyond their own lifetime, they see it as, "Well, it will last until I am gone, good enough." I am a little different, I guess. I'd like the planet's resources to last another 2000 years. I know that's but a blip in time but I honestly don't see it happening.

 

You should know, since it's been goddamned obvious for more than 25 years.
The natural cycle of events should be causing the earth to cool down towards another ice age, but it isn't because we've buggered up the system.

 

Pardon me but I haven't been the most observant on weather and nature over the last 25 years. I only started paying attention in the last 10 at best. As I said, I think man is contributing and speeding it along. Now, would you kindly spit out my idiot head. Thank you most kindly.

 

heyesey we as people have accelerated the earths cycles
the next ice age was not supposed to start this fucking soon
the de-oxygenation of the oceans was well before its intended times due directly to their inability to filter certain pollutants that would enter into the atmosphere at multiple levels
the haze created by industrial smoke and smogs have created a type of insulating layer in the ionosphere that is corrupting some of the natural order of the cycles of the planet
the continuous drilling and mining has reduced the cyclical mass of the planet as a whole and has created a slight rotational wobble the effects tidal changes that effect weather and even gravity

the over use of resources is causing a shortage of the very thing that is needed to sustain life on this planet

 

You think Pine Island Glacier falling into the sea might make them notice?

 

Probably not. They will stuff their fingers in their ears and claim that it's all part of the natural cycle.

 

Yeah, they/them notice how to profit $$$$$$$ from it.....

 

nature do you even know what the pine island glacier is????
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140102142010.htm

or are you one of those idiots that still believe that sonar systems used by ships have no effect on sea life?

 

And I suppose the existing big coal and oil companies that have a vested interest in preventing climate mitigation policies make no profit whatsoever?! (Sarcasm)

 

Learn to read you dolt. I have said nothing about the Pine Island Glacier. And sonar systems having no relevance on this topic. So why even bring them up?

You know ridgerunner, you really shouldn't made such over the top stupid statements and then call other's an idiot.

 

Are you talking about just these companies in the US? Or are you talking about the real big polluters in China and India?

If this is a global thing then the US with 6% of the world population is not going to make that big of a difference......

 

you may be better served if you would learn what the two have have in common because the pine island glacier is decreasing in size due to global warming trends in antartica and the use of sonar has disrupted the dolphin, tuna, and whale migration paths over the last century to enable ships to navigate once protected waters and have allowed invasive species to crowd those same waters and deplete all other marine life that would have dissolved, or cleansed the toxins

but you decide that shipping is removed from environmental effects because you see the monetary benefits of cheap cargo costs without thinking of the long term effects

 

They are predominantly the same companies as the companies investing in renewable energy.


I see an issue here. When you get comments like this

It's apparent that climate change has become a political religion. Al Gore, who isn't even a scientist let alone a climate scientist, will be the person I will personally hold accountable for climate change. He turned a pretty much one sided scientific debate into a polarising political debate. He associated himself as a "believer" in climate change with the intention to exclude republicans and damage their party. Not only that, his documentary misrepresented data and made claims which cannot be backed up with evidence.

Now all the good work scientists do, get tarred with the Al Gore brush, and media hype and sensationalism. Non scientists are not equipped to read scientific papers, and nor are most journalists. Which is why when I see something on the news or in the paper about climate change I not only ignore it, I get annoyed, because they are just out to either serve a political agenda, or to scare the life out of someone. They typically miss the entire point of a paper and focus on one line taken out of context.

 

Liar. You said people would make a profit out of it.

 

Reading comprehension is not one of your strong points, is it? My comment was in regards to the false theory of man made global climate change.

Not the Pine Island Glacier in general.......

 

al gore did not begin the conversation about the human impact on the earth but he did turn it into a political point
the people have had concerns about their impact on the planet for thousands of years
that is why even the sumarains were using composted waste produces to make new growing beds for the next season

even in mongolia they knew that if the reused vegetation for fuels or building
that is why the first wall of china has lasted until now even with the addition of the "great wall" on its footprint for the most part
in the orient they have used bamboo to replace steel in concrete foundations and scaffolding for centuries

it was not until the advent of the "industrial revolution" that massive iron works and foundries and power plants were invented to kill the planet on a global scale

in hawaii there is a power company that uses 100% oil for fuel that has de-allocated the funding for the "green energy" or solarized homes that are positive producers of power claiming that the popularity of solar has in some manner destabilized the infrastrucure that services the grid
in english the oil execs are pissed off because people there like clean air