As many of us right-minded people have pointed out, the climate has been changing for millennia. Before the first ounce of oil was pulled out of the ground; before the first soccer mom drove her SUV; before the first coal was pulled from the ground; the climate has gotten colder and warmer. And we’re not even close today to the temperatures in the past. We’re still coming out of a Little Ice Age.
Using the data contained in tiny marine fossil plankton shells and sediment grains, the researchers were able to build a record of past ocean conditions and link this with key historical records where the European climate was known to have been, on average, colder or warmer.
Microfossils from marine sediments Credit: Hannes Grobe/AWI
For example, the researchers were able to link a slowing down of the North Atlantic currents with a notorious cold period, often called the Little Ice Age, which ensconced Europe between 1300 to about 1850. Extensive cold winters were depicted in European paintings at the time, such as the famous ice skaters on the Thames in London.Similarly, the researchers identified another slowing down of the North Atlantic currents at the same time as an extreme cold period in the 6th century, which led to widespread crop failures and famines worldwide. It is also believed that the consequences of this cold period perhaps contributed to the spreading of the Plague of Justinian — one of the deadliest pandemics in human history that took the lives of an estimated 25 to 50 million people across the world.
Via WUWT