World Climate Past and Present-JLB

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World ClimateRecent Past and Present

Kanook Oct, 2009

Records available show that from the end of the Optimum Period1 of

sustained warmth until around 800-900 AD the climate of the world,

particularly in Europe varied between periods of warmth and cold. This

evidence, found on the height of the upper tree lines (where it shows that

trees grew to a higher altitude) following the perk warm period around 5000

BC, show a steady decline lasting up into the 20th century. Tree ring data for

New Zealand, for example, indicate that after temperatures reached a

maximum around 6000 to 8000 BC, the climate of New Zealand cooled.

Beginning around 1000 BC the climate of Europe and the Mediterranean

cooled dramatically and by 500 BC had reached todays temperatures,

whereas from 500 BC to 600 AD2 it experienced periods of varied warmth,

although much cooler on average than the previous 4,500 years with the over

climate becoming somewhat more stable from 100 BC to 400 AD, the period of

the rise of the Roman Empire.

During this period the Italians had vineyards and olive trees farther north

than before, classical Greece flourished and then declined; the Roman Empire

spread its authority through much of what is now Europe, the Middle East, and

North Africa only to be overrun by the hordes from Central Asia as their wealth

increased and they looked eastward to expand into other territories. Whether

or not climate change drove them east is still up to debate.

Evidence points to the migration of people from the northern latitudes duringthe cooling period, along with the Greeks adopting warmer clothes after 1300

BC3 and the population base in the Alps decreased. As the cooler weather

prevailed Greece and Turkey experience prolonged periods of drought

between 1200 to 750 BC, brought on by the cooling weather patterns

decreasing the evaporation of the seas, hence much less rainfall.

The drop in temperature is also supported by the evidence found that the

harbors of Naples and other ports in the Adriatic being three feet below the

current water levels, this backed by the lowering of water levels on the North

African coast and around the Aegean, the Crimea, and the eastern

Mediterranean in the Levant. Lower water levels indicate a colder climate

leading to the buildup of snow and ice at the poles and in major mountain

glaciers, but, by 400 AD temperatures has warmed enough to raise water

levels to at least three feet above current levels. A good example of this is

11 Holocene Climate Optimum was a warm period during roughly the interval 9,000 to 5,000years B.P.2Medieval Warm Period was a time of warm weather around AD 800-13003 Beginning around 1850, the climate began warming and the Little Ice Age ended


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some ancient harbors in Rome and Ravenna now sit about 1 kilometer from

the sea, there is also world evidence of the peak ocean heights found in Brazil,

Ceylon, Crete, England, and the Netherlands, indicating a worldwide warming

period.

Near the end of the Roman Empire, around 300 AD, the climate began to

warm and the conditions in Central Asia improved apparently leading to apopulation explosion, and the people needed room to expand and a way to

survive, consequently when a civilization wants to expand for whatever reason

they search out new lands and cultures to expand into, the Mongolians took it

upon themselves to move south and west invading China and parts of Europe.

During the 2nd Optimum Period, the homeland of the Khazars4 centered

around the Caspian Sea experienced heavy rainfall as compared to their

earlier history which increased prosperity in the region producing a high

increase in young men, men that provided the manpower for Genghis Khan to

invade China and India and to terrorize Russia and the Middle East,

After 500 AD until around 800 AD, Europe went through a colder, wetter, and

increased stormy weather and as the moisture increased peat bogs formed in

northern areas, and the people abandoned many lakeside dwellings while

mountain passes once again became choked with ice and snow, closing down,

or making more difficult to use, the transportation routes between Northern

Europe and points south. Parts of the Mediterranean and Northern Africa dried

up, although they remained much wetter than they are today.

Medically the people of England through the 7 th and the 9th centuries were

often crippled with arthritis, whereas during the previous warmer Bronze Age5

the incidence of arthritis was almost non-existent. During the centuries after

the Fall of the Roman Empire, the Greeks suffered with a diminished

economy and were overwhelmed with sickness aggravated by cold, dampconditions; on top of this the Black Death roamed the land between 744 AD

and 747 AD taking overwhelming victims during its leisurely stroll across the

countryside. In the aftermath, during the 9th and 10th centuries when the

Byzantine Emperors hauled the Greek settlers back from Asia Minor back to

the sea, for the 1st time Greek commerce and its prosperity returned as the

climate improved.

From 800 900 AD, the Vikings raided with furry outside their borders of

Scandinavia, there are three theories on what they left their shores and using

their superior naval technologies expanded their realm as far west as the

Americas and south into Africa. One theory is that they had outgrown theiragricultural potential, a theory that doesnt quite hold up in that if this was the

case why not move east into the large tracks of land, the 2 nd theory was they

were well aware of the internal divisions in the surrounding regions, for

4 The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who dominated the Pontic steppe and theNorth Caucasus from the 7th to the 10th century CE. The name 'Khazar' seems to be tied to aTurkic verb form meaning "wandering"5Bronze Age(33001200 BC)


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example the Danish Vikings of the divisions in Charlemagnes Empire, and lack

of organized naval opposition allowed them to range throughout many towns

and navigable rivers traveling freely and raiding or trading at will. Lack of

legitimate trade after the Fall of the Roman Empire and the expansion ofIslam

in the 7th century had affected the profitability of their old trade routes.

Whatever their reason, they accomplished their expansion in some prettymoderate weather, at one time setting up camp in Greenland where the

farming was great and the game plentiful they named the island,

Greenland later travelers name Iceland.

From around 800 AD to 1300 AD the world warmed considerably and

civilization prospered. The period is labeled the Little Climate Optimum /

Medieval Warmth and in general mimics the first Climate Optimum where

virtually all of Northern Europe, Britain, Ireland, Greenland and Iceland were

considerably warmer than at present. The Mediterranean, the Near East, the

Arabian peninsula and North Africa including the Sahara experienced more

rainfall than today, and even North America enjoyed much better weather

from Western Europe to China, East Asia, India and the Americas, mankind

flourished as never before.

Although the European continent received more rainfall, the western United

States, especially in eastern California and the western Great Basin6

experience prolonged droughts and Alaska experience three time intervals of

comparable warmth, (1-300 AD), (850 to 1200 AD) and post 1800 AD). Tree

rings from the upper tree lines in Europe, and from several sea levels indicate

a more benign, warmer climate with

more rainfall; and because of

evaporation, less standing water.

Not only did Northern Europe enjoymore rainfall the Mediterranean

climate was much wetter, whereas

an early 12th century bridge that still

exists over the river Oreto at

Palermo exceeds the needs of the

small trickle of water that flows

beneath it today. In addition, two

Arab geographers note that two rivers in Sicily that are two small for boats

today were navigable during this period and in England medieval water mills

on streams today do not carry enough water to turn the wheels. Rain; therewas plenty during the Little Climate Optimum.

Even though England received more rainfall

the warm weather causing evaporation left the

land dry and workable, as average

temperatures rose across Europe people

6 roughly between the Wasatch Mountains and theSierra Nevada mountains.
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established settlements at higher altitudes with some as high as 1300 feet

after 1100 AD. The wet warm weather was a boon to civilization, and it had

higher temperatures than today with wet but mild winters.

The Little Climate Optimum did not affect the world equally, where the

Caspian Sea7 was over 13 feet lower from the 9th century through the 11th

century than currently. After 1200 AD the elevation of the sea rosedramatically for the next 200 to 300 years. In the Asian steppes, warm periods

with fine summers and with little snow in the winters resulted in water levels

that were low by modern standards and the southern tip of South America was

dryer than usual. China, according to limited data had somewhat warmer

climate in the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries and very cold climate in the 12th and

13th a Chinese scholar, Chu Ko-chen reported that the 8 th and 9th centuries

were warmer and receive more rainfall, but the climate deteriorate

significantly in the 12th century. He found records, however, that show the first

half of the 13th century was very moderate; with very cold weather returning in

the 14th century, the records also showed the major floods and droughts, but

that they suffered little of such during the 9th and 11th centuries, with an

increase in the calamities during the 14th through the 17th centuries.

Japan too had warmer than usual weather in the 11th century, with the 12th

century experiencing later springs, and the 14th suffered the return of cold

weather.

Population Explosion

The Little Climate Optimum coincided with an upsurge of population almost

everywhere, but as there are a few records dealing with only Europe, the

validity of the statement cannot be verified, what is known as that during the

cold and damp Dark Ages8 the population of Europe had been relativelystagnant. Towns/villages shrank to a few houses clustered behind walls, the

occupants were spent their time in dank hovels, avoiding inclement weather

conditions that were ripe for the spread of disease such as Tuberculosis,

Malaria, Influenza and Pneumonia that brought about the death of the children

and the elderly, those over 30.

Albeit historians have failed to agree on why after the 11th century soared, it

might be better to ask why the population remained so stagnant previous to

the change of climate warmer and dryer weather. John Keegan in 1993

wrote, The mysterious revival of trade between 1100 and 1300, itself perhaps

due to an equally mysterious rise in the European population from about 40million to about 60 million, in turn revived the life of towns, which through the

growth of a money economy won funds to protect themselves from dangers

beyond their walls.

7 Like theBlack Sea, the Caspian Sea is a remnant of the ancient Paratethys Sea. The CaspianSea became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic uplift and a fall in sea level.8 It lasted from about AD 500 to 1000.
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Common sense, in most, would show most that a warmer, dryer climate from

cold and wet, albeit with more rainfall but more evaporation reduced bogs and

marshy areas permitting the reclamation of land for farming and the

population expansion. It is noted that previous to the advent of the warmer

climate the German settlers living on the east side of the Elbe frequently

ended the name of their towns with mar, meaning marsh, and after thewarming trend dropped the suffix. Some say the term went out of style, while

others say the marshes had dried up!

Let us face it, the climate had changed and life became enjoyable again and

civilization blossomed, life was good! Charles Van Doren in 1991 wrote, the

three centuries from 1000 to 1300, became one of the most optimistic,

prosperous, and progressive periods of European history.

There was plenty of work, one example being the construction of

Westminister Abbey employed conservatively 428 men, made up of 53

stonecutters, 49 monumental masons, 28 carpenters, 14 glassmakers, 4

roofers, and 220 simple labors whereas nearly half of the workers were

skilled specialists life was good!

During the 12th and 13th century technology exploded, where new techniques

expanded the use of the water mill, the windmill, and coal for energy and heat.

Sailing was improved through the invention of the lateen sail, the sternpost

rudder, and the compass. Governments constructed roads and contractors

developed new methods for stone work, new iron-casting techniques allowed

for better tools and weapons. The textile industry started using wool, linen,

cotton, and silk and in the 13th century developed the spinning wheel. Soap

came into common use in the 12 th century and mining which had declined

since the fall of the Roman Empire, mostly due to the snow and cold making

access to the mountains a bit harder, revived after the 10th century.The great indicator, even today, is a regions area ability to plant and harvest

grapes. Whereas good wine demand warm springs free of frost, substantial

summer warmth and sunshine without too much rain, and above all sunny

days in the fall. And to maintain the vine, winters cannot be too cold with only

an occasional dip below freezing.

During the Little Climate Optimum temperatures were sufficiently higher than

today allowing for the planting and harvesting of grapes some 300 miles north

above the commercial wine areas in France and Germany the wine

production was not simply a marginal wine, but of sufficient quality and

quantity that, after the Norman conquest, the French monarchy tried toprohibit British wine production calculations by scholars today estimate that

the overall temperature, based on the available records of the wine

production, shows that the average temperature was 0.9F to 3.4F higher

than today. Not only did the British produce quality wines during the Little


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Climate Optimum, vineyards prospered in East Prussia, Tilsit9, and southern

Norway.

Mini Ice Age

Bingo, the worlds weather did a flip-flop, albeit there in no agreed beginning

of the Little Ice Age, we know that at the beginning of the 13th

century pack icemoved southward into the North Atlantic, as did the glaciers in Greenland.

Beginning in 1315 three years of torrential rains ushered in an era of

unpredictable weather in Northern Europe, which did not began to stabilize

until the 19th century. Glaciers worldwide expanded, with evidence pointing to

no great variation in the pattern from 1600 to 1850, after which their retreat is

marked.

Although the Little Ice Age is even less well defined than the Little Climate

Optimum, it is agreed upon the Europe, North America, New Zealand, and in

Greenland temperatures fell, albeit with many ups and downs, but basically

staying chilly after 1300 to 1850 AD, when they began to rebound. The

extreme cold period for the world occurred between 1550 and 1700, once

interpretation of the available data is that the world had began cooling around

4500 BC with the noted temporary upswing of temperatures during the Little

Climate Optimum.

Europe and Asia cooled substantially from 1300 to 1850, especially after

1400, with average temperatures falling 2 to 4F below the 20 th century, and

further indications show that the temperature fell as much as 9F in the 200

years from 1200 to 1400.

The frigid change in temperature across the world brought hardships along

with a decline in world population, while famine and disease stalked once

again across Europe and Asia. Oxygen isotopes from oak trees in Germanydocument a steady decline in average temperatures from 1350 to 1800 with

the exception of a few small upsurges and one strong temperature spike in the

1st half of the 18th century.

What caused the Little Ice Age? Scientists today have tentatively

indentified four possible causes, decreased solar activity leads the list, along

with increased volcanic activity, ocean conveyor shutdown, and a decrease in

agriculture activity.

Solar activity (or) lack of seems to be the heavy favorite whereas during the

period of 1645 - 1715, in the middle of the Little Ice Age, there was a period of

low solar activity known as the Maunder Minimum10

. Although even today

9Sovetsk(Russian: ), which was known by its Germanname ofTilsit (Lithuanian:Til;Polish: Tyla) before 1945, is a townnow in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia on the south bank of theNeman River.

10 The Maunder Minimum (also known as the prolonged sunspot minimum) is the nameused for the period roughly spanning 1645to 1715 byJohn A. Eddy in a landmark 1976 paperpublished in Science titled "The Maunder Minimum",[1] when sunspots became exceedinglyrare, as noted by solar observers of the time.
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evidence indicates that we have a very low understanding of the correlation

between low sunspot activity and cooling temperatures it was also indentified

that the beginning of the Little Ice Age, coincided with the Sporer Minimum11,

evidence supports these claims by the levels of the isotopes carbon-14 and

beryllium-10.

During the Little Ice Age, the planet also experienced heightened volcanicactivity. We all understand that when a volcano erupts it ejects ash high into

the atmosphere, with larger eruptions blanking the earth which drifts about in

the upper atmosphere for as long as 2-years, circling the globe numerous

times. Sulfur is a major component of eruptions, where when the gas reaches

the stratosphere it converts into sulfuric acid particles, becoming a super

reflector and reducing the incoming solar radiation. When Tambora12

erupted in April 1813 it not only killed over 71,000 souls it blanketed the

atmosphere with its ejecta, spreading around the world causing world

temperatures to plummet, the following year was known as the Year without

a Summer, where frost and snow were reported in June and July in New

England and Northern Europe.

The Thermohline Circulation might have shutdown, this is the current that

is the great ocean conveyor or Meridional overturning circulation.

The Gulf Stream could have been interrupted by the introduction of a large

amount of fresh water to the North Atlantic, there is some concern that the

Thermohaline Circulation could shutdown again as a result of Global Warming

in some circles others view this as a strong maybe.

The 4th guess is that the reduction of the population in Europe, East Asia and

the Middle East during and after the Black Death13, which killed up to 60% ofEuropes population, causing a decrease in agricultural activity. Whereas

forests multiplied and increased the CO2 flow to the atmosphere, a factor that

11 The Sprer Minimum was a 90-year span of low solar activity, from about 1460 until 155012Tambora erupted in 1815 with a rating of seven on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, making itthe largest eruption since the Lake Taupoeruption in about 180 CE.[4]13 The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europebetween 1348 and 1350.
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most disregard as a cause although a study of sediment cores and soil

samples in North America suggest the same.

Along with the dropping of the tree line across the world, the ocean level fell

below normal the result of the expanding ice fields and the polar ice cap, this

influx of cooler water weather around the globe increased in intensity causing

cold and stormy weather. This change in weather patterns caused disasters topeople everywhere, whereas even in Ethiopia the chill caused snow to fall and

stay above 10,000 feet, an event that is not witnessed today and the sub-

tropical monsoon rains decreased and receded farther south, causing droughts

in East Asia and large regions of Africa.

The expansion of the circumpolar vortex produced some of the greatest

windstorms ever

recorded in

Europe and in

some cases

changed the

course of

history, one

example being

the defeat of the

Spanish Navy, or

the Spanish

Armada in July

158814. Another

storm, a storm

that even today

is still used, asviolent weather in the British Isles compared to this storm. In the late

November of 1703 a storm struck England with such force and magnitude and

destructive damage that Daniel Defore (Robinson Crusoe author) wrote a

successful book called The Storm based on interview of the survivors. He

wrote, No pen could describe nor tongue conceive it unless by one in the

extremity of it. No storm since the Universal Deluge was like this, either in its

violence or its durationthe tempest that destroyed woods and forests all over

England.

He was right, records as well as can be found showed that 8000 to 9000 lives

were lost, some records claim as high as 15,000, most being shipboard on the500-700 vessels sunk or damaged by the gales. Over 4,000 trees were laid

flat east of Bournemouth, 400 windmills to 900 houses were destroyed and

over 100 churches lost their steeples or damages in some other way. It should

be noted that the summer of 1703 had been unusually wet across Britain and

14 Philip II of Spain learned of the result of the expedition, he declared, "I sent the Armadaagainst men, not God's winds and waves".[20] Greatly disappointed, he still forgave the Duke ofMedina Sidonia.
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the Autumn had been very warm. In mid-November a series of storms

battered the British Isles knocking down chimneys in London and sinking

several ships off the coast. As a matter of record, during one of those minor

storms a falling chimney almost took the life of Defoe. As the month drew to a

close, the biggest storm of all knocked on Merry old Englands front door.

During the waning hours of the 25th

of November15

(a Thursday) the stormslammed into the entrance of the Bristol Channel, from what little

meteorological information available, it is believed the main storm center

moved north of Scotland while a secondary low-pressure cell formed to the

southwest and moved across Britain from south Wales to the mouth of the

Humber.

Barometric measurements, read the equivalent of 973 mb in south Essex,

whereas it is suggested that at the center of the low it read as low as 950 mb

as it crossed over the Midlands. In East Anglia, wind speeds were estimated in

excess of 100 mph while in Whitstable more than one report reported a

tornado/waterspout that lifted a ship out of the water, depositing it 800 feet

inland from the shore, it also picked up a cow and spiked in high in a tree.

This horrific wind storm cut a 300-mile swath across southern England and

Wales, on the 27th it moved across the North Sea and slammed into parts of

France, northern Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland before finally

dissipating.

Violent weather was the rule of the day during the Little Ice Age, one

particular storm that hit the shores of Europe on Christmas Day in 1717

causing a flood across the coastal areas of the Netherlands, Germany, and

Scandinavia on Christmas night where approximately 14,000 drowned. The

aftermath found the local populations coping with population loss, economic

decline and widespread poverty, it should be noted that no coastal areabetween the Netherlands and Denmark was spared. In the affected regions

large quantities of cattle were lost, homes were washed away (in Ostfriesland

alone 900 homes were lost), the survivors remained unaware of the fate of

their missing family members for weeks, one example, of 284 people missing

from Werdum in Ostfriesland, only 32 were found alive by their relatives or

friends by Feburary 5th, 1718.

Two days after the cooler weather brought hard frosts and heavy snowfall,

and to add to their misery on the night of the 25th of February a new wind

driven storm flood hit them again.

There is no doubt of the evidence showing the contrast of the cold northerntemperatures moving south and meeting the warm sub-tropical Atlantic and

the resultant fierce jet stream the meeting produced, please keep in mind

were not talking 100s of degrees different here, records show a moderate

drop of temperature involving a drop of 2F or as much as 5F. Europe was

15 The December 7-8, 1703 Windstorm (November 26 -27 on the old calendar still used in England atthe time)


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not the only place affected by enhanced wind storms, where it is written that

Tornado activity increased across the Great Plains of America.

Arctic sea ice eventually cut off Greenland, glaciers advanced in Iceland,

Norway, Greenland, the Alps and on the western coast of the North American

continent to include Alaska. Bogs and marshes again became the word of the

day, tree lines dropped, harvests failed rising the price of food, farms wereabandoned and disease for both animals and humans spread.

Harvest deficits and hunger ran rampant 40-years before the Black Death

became an issue, where the poor were reduced to eating dogs, cats and even

children. The hard to find food output contributed greatly to the decline in

population that was only further reduced when the Black Death knocked on

the door. Evidence today reveals that many villages were abandoned before

not after the beginning of the plague and by 1327 the population of parts of

England had fallen by 67%, when the plague struck poorly nourished people

were quickly carried off by the disease. When the plague finally made its way

over the Alps after 1348 it killed at least 33% of the population in Northern

Europe, whereas life expectancy fell by 10-years in little over a century from

48-years-old in 1280 to 38-years-old in the years 1376 to 1400. Researchers

hang the start of the Black Death on China originating around 1333, this

following devastating floods there in 1332 which are reported to have caused

over 7 million deaths, and disturbing wild life and displacing the soon to be

plague carrying rats. The Black Death spread to central Asia, which, with the

increased cooling, was also drying out it was a short trip from there to

Europe.

The overall weather was getting cooler, storms were increasing, there were

abundant wet period followed by dry hot ones in general weather that

confined the population to their homes are whatever shelter they could find increasing their exposure to the carriers of the Black Death, the rats.

The end of the Little Climate Optimum had devastating effects on the

populations that lived at the edge of habitable lands, for example, the

population of Iceland after several hundred years of cool damp weather was

cut by over 50%, as crops failed and the farmers abandoned their land.

The economy brought about by the Little Climate Optimum crashed to where

in 1337 the first recorded bank failure when the great Italian bank Scali was

brought to its knees. Construction halted on churches and the great

cathedrals and the leaders of many countries searched far and wide for

scapegoats of the conditions of economic failures spreading across their land.The King of England, for example, expelled the entire Jewish population from

the country in 1290, this action followed by the French King following his

example in 1306 and once again in 1393 and in 1349 the Christians of Brabant

massacred16 local Jews, they followed this action with a complete expelling of

the Jews 21-years-later.

16http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=569&letter=B
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The cooler weather is also said to have caused the end of the Anasazi

population in the southwest of America and brought to an end Native American

farming in the upper Midwest, and in Greece the necessity of keeping a large

military establishment to protect their lands and what little prosperity they did

have, broke the country.

Cold weather and Global Warming do they walk hand-in-hand?

Another Mini-Ice Age?

When we think of Ice Ages, most of us think of a slow transition into a colder

climate matched with extremely long time scales, whereas recent studies of

the past million years indicate a repeatable cycle of Earths climate

progressing from warm periods, called interglacial, as we experiencing today

to glacial conditions.

One theory behind these cycles is one put forth by Milutin Milankovitch in

1938 that involves the precession of the equinoxes (a 23,000 year cycle)

that changes our path to one that is either more round or less round around

our life giver the Sun.

We suppose that our next journey towards the next Ice Age will take several

millennia, so what is the big deal? In fact, wont the build-up of CO2 and other

greenhouse gases slow the process down?

Some groups even want to accelerate the process, thereby creating a much

warmer climate in Russia turning much of the cold, austere northern Russia

into a sub-tropical paradise. Albeit the Global Warming advocates yell from

the rooftops that man is a major contributor to our Global Warming and

scream for tighter controls on the goals of such documents such as the Kyoto

Protocol, which is due to be again voted on for acceptance in Nov of this year a growing group of scientists and global scholars are doubting its validity.

One of the paradoxs surrounding the Global Warming, were putting too

much CO2 into our atmosphere is that our actions or lack of them will lead to

another Little Ice Age, this caused by the shutting down warm current flowing

northward from the warmer latitudes. This shutdown by the melding ice

moving southward from the Arctic Ocean and the melding ice of Greenland,

cool freshwater slamming into the salinity water of the Gulf Stream.

Ice cores, being our best historical

records, show that in lieu of slow and

methodical transitions from hot to coldthey are revealing chaotic rapid

changes, some only decades long

when the climate swung widely about

between the two states a good

example being the event called the

Younger Dryas around 12,000 years

ago that begin and ended within a


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decade, and for its 1000 year duration the North Atlantic was approximately

5Ccolder than today.

The bottom line is that in the end the experts are telling us is that it is ocean

dynamics that will and have driven the abrupt climate changes, in particular

one major driver is the Gulf Steam, shut it down and the Northern

Hemisphere is in deep trouble.In the case of Northern Europe, the Gulf Stream in order to balance the

excess heating near the equator and cooling at the North Pole, both the

atmosphere and the Gulf Stream transport the heat from the low to high

latitudes. Warmer surface water is cooled at the high latitudes releasing heat

into the atmosphere, which is then radiated away to space. This action keeps

the Northern regions of Europe and England enjoying moderate weather, and

as this happens around the globe with similar action gives us all moderate

weather.

Warmer ocean surface temperature at low latitudes also releases water vapor

through an excess of evaporation over precipitation to the atmosphere,

whereas the vapor is transported pole-ward in the atmosphere along with

some heatnow as it moves northward and reaching the higher latitudes the

vapor falls as an excess of precipitation over evaporation. As the vapor moves

northward it increases in density, as the now cooled falling dense water sinks it

forms dense flows that spread towards the equator at great depths and the

cycle continues and the transport of warm surface water continues to warm

the northern latitudes.

Understand that the waters moving towards the pole are relatively salty due

to more evaporation at the lower latitudes, which increases surface salinity

whereas at the higher latitudes the surface waters become fresher as a direct

factor of the dominance of precipitation over evaporation at the higherlatitudes. This freshening tendency makes the surface water more buoyant,

thus opposing the cooling tendency and there you have it. If the freshening

is sufficiently large, the surface waters may not be dense enough to sink to

great depths in the ocean, thus inhibiting the action of the ocean conveyor

system and bringing to a stop the function of the earths heating network.

This system of regulation does not work the same in all oceans, where the

Asian continent limits the northern extent of the Indian Ocean to the tropics,

and deep water does not form in the North Pacific, because the surface waters

are too fresh. Present climate conditions promote cold deep water formation

around Antarctica and in the northern North Atlantic Ocean. The conveyorcirculation increases the northward transport of warmer waters in the Gulf

Stream at mid-latitudes by about 50% of what wind-driven transport alone

would do.

Evidence extracted from the analysis of the sediment cores from around the

worlds oceans have generally implicated the North Atlantic as the most

unstable member of the worldwide conveyor network, during millennial

periods of cold climate the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation


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either stopped or was greatly reduced, which is generally followed by periods

of large freshwater discharge into the northern North Atlantic caused by a

rapid melting of glacial or multi-year ice in the Arctic basis. It is believed

that these fresh waters, which have been transported into the regions of deep

water formation, have interrupted the conveyor system by overcoming the

high-latitude cooling effect with excessive freshening.The preceding is all theory; while a great number of earths scientists believe

it is all possible, all of them at one time or the other has couched these

theories with maybe!

Well you dont have to be an up and coming rocket scientist to see that

warmer is better than colder and that during the best of times, human

populations have gone up rapidly, new techniques and practices have

developed, and construction and art have flourished. Our planets history

demonstrates that the human race spent hundreds of thousands of years as

hunter gathers and when the weather warmed up a bit our ancestors

domesticated plants and animals and began to shape their environment vs.

just surviving off of it! During the Climate Optimum of 3,000 to 8,000 years

ago, people built the 1st cities establishing city states than empires, trade

flourished, writing was invented, and the human population exploded. The

warmer weather produced more rain, especially to North Africa and Arabia,

and hardwood forests spread throughout Europe and then the climate cooled

a bit around 1000 BC, interspersed with a few periods of warmth until around

600 AD where for the next 300 years it was cold and damp, not because of

rainfall but because of the lack of evaporation, progress, civilization and trade

came to a standstill.

From 900 to 1300 AD, warm, sunny weather returned and the populationexploded, trade went up and we again marched forward, colonized new

regions and their higher elevations and much further north. Norseman

occupied Iceland and Greenland and some regions of North America,

Europeans being Europeans went on a building spree reflecting a religious tone

and exploited the masses by paying them cheap wages, but it was something.

Asia also flourished during the Little Climate Optimum, building large temples,

profitable trading networks, creating art and literature and improved

agricultural tools. In North America the Anasazi Indians pueblos and other

Natives Americans developed large trading centers on the Mississippi River

and farmed now western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota, and then it allcame to a slow but gradual end.

When the cold weather once again spread across the globe during the Little

Ice Age our civilization slowed down, the population explosion came to a halt

and we shifted backwards in our overall development and/or progress.

Famine, plague, and warfare walked across our land for the next few centuries

and even though all regions of the world were not affected to the same

degree. Some became too dry while other were too wet, and others may have


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become too warm, and others experience high-pressure systems that blocked

storms while other just the opposite occurred, in all the weather was out-of-

balance, but the benefit of warmer weather meant longer growing seasons,

more rainfall overall, and fewer and less violent storms.

So warmer is better than colder, and in this many sensible scholars have

realized that no-matter the course of our climate that the optimal solution indealing with climate change is to promote growth and prosperity, this so

people will have the resources to deal with any shift, whether towards warmer

or a colder climate.

Common Sense supported by facts and not supposition will win

the day, not a common cry that the sky is falling!

Documents

World Climate Past and Present-JLB