Ancient records help test climate change

[rodeodance]

Source: ap




Ancient records help test climate change

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 23 minutes ago

EINSIEDELN, Switzerland - A librarian at this 10th century monastery leads a visitor beneath the vaulted ceilings of the archive past the skulls of two former abbots. He pushes aside medieval ledgers of indulgences and absolutions, pulls out one of 13 bound diaries inscribed from 1671 to 1704 and starts to read about the weather.


"Jan. 11 was so frightfully cold that all of the communion wine froze," says an entry from 1684 by Brother Josef Dietrich, governor and "weatherman" of the once-powerful Einsiedeln Monastery. "Since I've been an ordained priest, the sacrament has never frozen in the chalice."

"But on Jan. 13 it got even worse and one could say it has never been so cold in human memory," he adds.

Diaries of day-to-day weather details from the age before 19th-century standardized thermometers are proving of great value to scientists who study today's climate. Historical accounts were once largely ignored, as they were thought to be fraught with inaccuracy or were simply inaccessible or illegible. But the booming interest in climate change has transformed the study of ancient weather records from what was once a "wallflower science," says Christian Pfister, a climate historian at the University of Bern.

The accounts dispel any lingering doubts that the Earth is heating up more dramatically than ever before, he says. Last winter — when spring blossoms popped up all over the Austrian Alps, Geneva's official chestnut tree sprouted leaves and flowers, and Swedes were still picking mushrooms well into December — was Europe's warmest in 500 years, Pfister says. It came after the hottest autumn in a millennium and was followed by one of the balmiest Aprils on record.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070915/ap_on_re_eu/switzerland_weather_monks;_ylt=AibHROqTg5RxlzHa5mmSUPhBXYh4

[Barrett808]

1. "The accounts dispel any lingering doubts that the Earth is heating up dramatically"

k & r

[Beartracks]

2. Do the records show that the current cycle...

...of global warming had its beginning well before the industrial revolution? Just curious... I'm certain that human activity has had some effect on the rate of warming -- and that therefore we can and should act to slow that rate -- but it seems only natural (pun intended) that Earth's climate should cycle back and forth over the millenia of its own accord.

[Barrett808]

3. Check out RealClimate.org for answers to all your questions on climate science

http://www.realclimate.org

[ohio2007]

4. What, you doubt the word of a dead monk ?

[ohio2007]

5. the years 1671 to 1704 = " Ancient records " ?

I wonder what the climate was like before ice first started to remain frozen all year in Antarctica. Fossil records found do contradict the theory of creation ... and maybe a bit more.


from the link;
The accounts dispel any lingering doubts that the Earth is heating up more dramatically than ever before, he says. Last winter — was Europe's warmest in 500 years,

So,
the weather 500+ years ago was warmer and compares to last years ?
Maybe Krakatoa will blow the lid off global warming.

What happened in the Krakatoa eruption in the 1800's?


11. The volcanic dust veil that created such spectacular atmospheric effects also acted as a solar radiation filter, lowering global temperatures as much as 1.2 degree C in the year after the eruption.
Temperatures did not return to normal until 1888.


http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/frequent_questions/grp7/asia/question879.html

Temperatures did not return to normal until 1888.

say, maybe the early industrial revolution saved us from global cooling

/sarc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj-4t9drUlM&mode=related&search=

[xchrom]

6. ...

:eyes:

[ohio2007]

7. .

can't argue that point

[Spinzonner]

9. SO, let's blow up a volcano

[SayWhatYo]

10. My first thought too...

about the time frame being considered ancient, that is.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Thanks! Glad to see this today, since I missed it when you posted it yesterday.

Very interesting.