A Frost Fair on the Thames at Temple Stairs by Abraham Danielsz Hondius (Abraham de Hondt), circa 1684. Oil painting. This fair, one of several built on the frozen Thames in London during severe winters, was exceptional in that it lasted from December 1683 until 4th February 1684. Photograph: Corbis
The "little ice age", evidence of which was first recorded around 1300.
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And which extended through to the mid 1800s, was the coldest interval over the Northern Hemisphere for one thousand or so years.
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Periodic plagues and famines ravaged Europe and glaciers descended from the Alps to engulf a number of villages.
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And which extended through to the mid 1800s, was the coldest interval over the Northern Hemisphere for one thousand or so years.
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Periodic plagues and famines ravaged Europe and glaciers descended from the Alps to engulf a number of villages.
One influence may have been a drop in solar energy.
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Isotopes of carbon in tree rings and beryllium in ice cores show a drop-off in solar radiation during much of the period.
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Moreover, sunspot observations that began around 1610 show a near-absence of reported sunspots between 1645 and 1715.
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However, recent studies have brought down the relative importance of this solar effect on the little ice age.
.
Isotopes of carbon in tree rings and beryllium in ice cores show a drop-off in solar radiation during much of the period.
.
Moreover, sunspot observations that began around 1610 show a near-absence of reported sunspots between 1645 and 1715.
.
However, recent studies have brought down the relative importance of this solar effect on the little ice age.
Also in the mix are volcanoes, which seem to have erupted more frequently after 1500 than during the so-called medieval warm period that preceded it.
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The 1815 eruption of Indonesia's Tambora – one of the most violent ever recorded on Earth – led to a disastrously cold summer across much of the globe in 1816.
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That "year without a summer" brought crop failures to northern Europe as well as snows in Vermont as late as early June.
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The 1815 eruption of Indonesia's Tambora – one of the most violent ever recorded on Earth – led to a disastrously cold summer across much of the globe in 1816.
.
That "year without a summer" brought crop failures to northern Europe as well as snows in Vermont as late as early June.
Like the medieval warm period, the little ice age appears to have been strongest over the Northern Hemisphere's continents.
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Although it's hard to completely eliminate geographic bias from these early records.
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And there's little evidence from the tropics and southern hemisphere to say what actually happened there.
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Some researchers argue that both phenomena were primarily regional events, as opposed to the global-scale warming under way now.
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Robert Henson
.
Although it's hard to completely eliminate geographic bias from these early records.
.
And there's little evidence from the tropics and southern hemisphere to say what actually happened there.
.
Some researchers argue that both phenomena were primarily regional events, as opposed to the global-scale warming under way now.
.
Robert Henson
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