MS;
If memory serves me the impacts of the LIA (Little Ice age) that was ~1400-1850 are well understood from historical accounts etc..
The causes are less clear. the last thing I had read on that was a while ago, and it basically had it narrowed to two forces; one would be volcanic eruptions; this would have put ash into the atmospehe which reduces the amount of solar energy getting to the surface of the earth. The second has to do with the actual variability of the solar output of the sun, which can vary.
The LIA was important because it shows again that small factors can induce change on the earth....
It is also less clear if this was world wide of it the LIA was confined to Europe/Western Asia....
|