The Sun Since the Bronze Age

Eddy, John A.

doi:10.1029/sp008p0958

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Our study concentrates on north-western and central Europe during the period of the Spörer Minimum (SPM) in solar activity. Concerning the temporal extent of the SPM, a number of differing definitions exist: 1400-1510 (Eddy, 1976b(Eddy, , 1977Jiang and Xu, 1986), 1420-1570 (Eddy, 1976b(Eddy, , 1977Kappas, 2009) and 1460-1550 (Eddy, 1976a). According to more recent reconstructions (see e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 1430s: a cold period of extraordinary internal climate variability during the early Spörer Minimum with social and economic impacts in north-western and central Europe

et al. 2016

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Changes in climate affected human societies throughout the last millennium. While European cold periods in the 17th and 18th century have been assessed in detail, earlier cold periods received much less attention due to sparse information available. New evidence from proxy archives, historical documentary sources and climate model simulations permit us to provide an interdisciplinary, systematic assessment of an exceptionally cold period in the 15th century. Our assessment includes the role of internal, unforced climate variability and external forcing in shaping extreme climatic conditions and the impacts on and responses of the medieval society in north-western and central Europe. Climate reconstructions from a multitude of natural and anthropogenic archives indicate that the 1430s were the coldest decade in north-western and central Europe in the 15th century. This decade is characterised by cold winters and average to warm summers resulting in a strong seasonal cycle in temperature. Results from comprehensive climate models indicate consistently that these conditions occurred by chance due to the partly chaotic internal variability within the climate system. External forcing like volcanic eruptions tends to reduce simulated temperature seasonality and cannot explain the reconstructions. The strong seasonal cycle in temperature reduced food production and led to increasing food prices, a subsistence crisis and a famine in parts of Europe. Societies were not prepared to cope with failing markets and interrupted trade routes. In response to the crisis, authorities implemented numerous measures of supply policy and adaptation such as the installation of grain storage capacities to be prepared for future food production shortfalls

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 1430s: a cold period of extraordinary internal climate variability during the early Spörer Minimum with social and economic impacts in north-western and central Europe

et al. 2016

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“…This might indicate that the times of the excursions were not sufficiently compensated for the temporal sluggishness of the natural process by which variations in solar activity become encoded in the Inc record [Eddy, 1976b].…”

Section: Five Such Excursions Are Indicatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[Eddy, 1976a]. Also, the early colonial auroral record has again been resurveyed and discussed [Mendillo and Keady, 1976;Eather, 1980].…”

Section: The Maunder Minimum In the Auroral Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence in the Auroral Record for Secular Solar Variability

Siscoe

2013

History of Geophysics

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The auroral events of the year 1716 most clearly announced that the prolonged solar and auroral calm that we now call the Maunder Minimum [Eddy, 1976a] had ended. But the onset of renewed auroral activity was noted already in the previous solar cycle. In 1707 an aurora was seen in Berlin and recorded in the journal of the Berlin Academy. Curiously, in New England, which is closer to the auroral zone than is London, Paris, or Berlin, the aurora returned suddenly in 1719. Contemporary accounts put the first recorded appearance of an aurora in Italy in the 1720's. In summary, prior to the twentieth century, long-term auroral variations were well established, and their investigation was an important subject under the general heading of auroral research. However, to the extent that the aim of the investigation was to determine the law of the variability it was not particularly successful. The 11-year variation was first discovered in the sunspot data, although it was then quickly found to be presen• in the auroral data also. The attempt to determine the period of the secular variation, which had yielded such a variety of results, was not long satisfied with the answer of 55.5 years. After further collection and examination of sunspot data, Wolf finally favored a secular period of 83 years, and a roughly 80-year period was subsequently assigned to the auroral data [Schove, 1955;Gleissberg, 1965;Link, 1968].In addition to increasing the suggested period for the secular variation to roughly 80 years, twentieth-century research led to suggestions of variations characterized by longer periods, namely 200 years [Schove, 1955] and 400 years [Link, 1968]. Attributing to these variations the property of periodicity is, however, less warranted than in the case of the 80-year cycle. The number of events in the pre-eighteenth-century auroral record has continued to grow as the result of historical searches in the twentieth century with additions from eastern and western sources. At the present time the longest-term variations emerge as a clear signal simply by plotting the recorded auroral frequency as a function of time. There are now enough events in the aurorally rich intervals to see distinct 11-year cycles. It is evident that the paucity of auroral reports during the Maunder Minimum does not reflect a lack of a familiar precedent. All of the early reports after the resumption of displays

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“…Most of the available palaeoclimate reconstructions suggest that during the LIA, global temperatures decreased by 0.5°C-1.5°C (Mann et al, 1998), but with great regional variability (Crowley et al, 2008). Conditions were particularly severe during two solar minima, known as Spörer (~1460-1550 AD) and Maunder (~1645-1715 AD) (Eddy, 1976a(Eddy, , 1976b. In the Caribbean region, coral data indicate an even higher magnitude of cooling, with temperatures 2°C-3°C lower than those of today (Winter et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imprints of the Little Ice Age and the severe earthquake of AD 2001 on the aquatic ecosystem of a tropical maar lake in El Salvador

et al. 2022

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Using a 530-year sediment record from the maar Lake Apastepeque, El Salvador, and based on diverse geochemical and biological (cladocerans, chironomids, diatoms, ostracods, testate amoebae) indicators, we estimated climatic and environmental alterations during the Little Ice Age (LIA) and reconstructed the recent history of the lake. Results demonstrate relatively humid conditions in the mid-elevations (500 m a.s.l.) of El Salvador during most parts of the LIA, resulting in high lake levels. Contrarily, the first part of the LIA was characterized by drier climates comparable to studies from Mexico and Belize, which correlated this phase with the Spörer minimum. Regional comparison with palaeorecords from the northern Neotropics reveals a high heterogeneity in local expressions of the LIA in Central America, likely connected to the high topographic heterogeneity of the region. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Lake Apastepeque has experienced enhanced human impact expressed as increased nutrient supply. The most recent period was characterized by significant environmental disturbance, which we relate to an upper-crustal earthquake, one of the strongest over the last 500 years, that affected the region on 13th February 2001 (Mw = 6.6, epicentre at 10 km depth, 30 km from the lake). The release of toxic bottom components such as hydrogen sulphide and high turbidity and turbulence of water caused major species turnover in the lake ecosystem, resulting in a massive fish kill and colonization by large cladocerans. Modern sediments still show slightly altered biota communities compared to pre-earthquake assemblages, indicating that the ecosystem has still not fully recovered.

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The Sun Since the Bronze Age

Cited by 11 publications

References 15 publications

The 1430s: a cold period of extraordinary internal climate variability during the early Spörer Minimum with social and economic impacts in north-western and central Europe

The 1430s: a cold period of extraordinary internal climate variability during the early Spörer Minimum with social and economic impacts in north-western and central Europe

Evidence in the Auroral Record for Secular Solar Variability

Imprints of the Little Ice Age and the severe earthquake of AD 2001 on the aquatic ecosystem of a tropical maar lake in El Salvador

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