Climate
Climate
- from Latin clima for "region, slope of the earth
- from PIE *klei- "to lean"
- so "climate" indicates weather patterns in different parts, zones or regions of the earth
- climate is primarily related to distance from the equator
- ancient geographers categorized zones by length of the day
- by 1600s "climate" came to mean the general weather characteristics of a region, esp. regarding temperature, rainfall, winds, etc.
>> to do: combine w/ Climate change page
>> probably best to separate into two articles Climate Outline and Climate Change Ouline
Climate classifications
Köppen-Geiger classifications
Trewartha climate classification
Climate periods
Pre-Modern human climate history
Modern humans period
Eemian
- last inter-glacial period
- 135,000 - 115,000 years ago
- named for the warm-water sea mollusks whose fossils were found in the Eemian River in the Netherlands, demonstrating warm temperatures during this period.
- characteristics
- warmer & wetter in the northern regions
- hippopotomus remains found along Rhine and Thames rivers
- lower- Canadian Arctic had forests
- ended with sudden cooling 114,000 years ago
- sources
- "Are We Holding a New Ice Age at Bay" by Matt Ridley, Wall Street Journal, Jan 14, 2012
- Eemian (wikipedia)
- sources
965 AD
- sources:
- [Extreme weather events of 535–536] (wikipedia)
- Medieval warming
- impacts: see Mongol empire
- Icelandic Volcano Caused Historic Famine In Egypt, Study Shows (Science Daily)
- list of periods
- The Holocene Warming a (11,600-8,500bp). The Egyptian Cooling (8,500-8,000bp). The Holocene Warming b (8,000-5,600bp). The Akkadian Cooling (5,600-3,500AD). The Minoan Warming (3,500-3,200bp). The Bronze Age Cooling (3,200-2,500bp). The Roman Warming (500BC-535AD). The Dark Ages (535-900AD). The Medieval Warming (900AD-1300 AD). The Little Ice Age (1300AD-1850AD). Recall that the Greeks survived the warmings without air-conditioners. "History," writes Plimer, "cannot be rewritten just because it does not fit a computer model with a pre-ordained conclusion." from http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/ancient_greeces_global_warming.html
Climate change & cycles
new page to do: Climate History >> ?? Climate & Climate Change >> ?
>> add to Climate & Climate Change Outline
Sources
- Climage Changes Affect Ancient Civilizations
- "Are We Holding a New Ice Age at Bay" by Matt Ridley, Wall Street Journal, Jan 14, 2012
- see this comment in WSJ article above b y Matt Ridley:
There are any number of things that can do it. Some of them have to do with the earth's orbit and orientation to the sun. These are cycles that play out in terms of 50,000 years at a time. Other cycles are much shorter. The sunspot cycle is 11 years. The AMO is 72 years (Atlantic Mutidecadal Oscillation), the ENSO is a similar cycle in the Pacific. The AMO is why we went down in temperature from the 1930s to 1970s. The longer de Vries cycle is a ~200 year oscillation in the sun's magnetic field. The sun basically rings magnetically like a bell with several "tones". One is 200 years long, one is 11 years long, there are others. Since roughly 1 CE, we have been dominated by some of the long tones of the sun. Aside from the magnetic effects which modulate the cosmic rays hitting the earth, the sun's spectrum shifts around into more or less UV. This has a lot of effect at the poles. Read the Svensmark I cited for one theory that seems to explain the long cycles due to the solar magnetic field. I am sure it will be refined over time, and I am sure other effects will be found, but it is one that seems to have legs in its predictive ability. On a shorter time frame with the AMO rolling over and heading down, the next 30 years will be cooler. http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/amo_faq.php See also the Wiki entry for this. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204257504577150812451167538.html?mod=ITP_review_1#articleTabs%3Dcomments
Sources
- articles
- "Are We Holding a New Ice Age at Bay" by Matt Ridley, Wall Street Journal, Jan 14, 2012
- books