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The Holocene
Climate changes leading to the present (Holocene) interglacial commenced around 13,000 bp with a series of rapid fluctuations in climate that culminated in the cold Younger Dryas interstadial. Recovery from the Younger Dryas has been estimated to represent a global warming of the order of 5°–8°C in a period as short as thirty years. Since that time, climate changes have been relatively subtle and related to factors other than the external climatic forcing caused by orbital changes. A range of data sources point to successive variations between warmer and colder periods causing minor retreats and advances of alpine glaciers. The warmest phase of the Holocene period recorded in ice cores was between 10,000 and 8,000 bp, although the traditionally recognized Holocene climatic optimum, termed the altithermal or hypsithermal, is usually described as occurring between 7,000 and 4,000 bp. Where this optimum of Holocene climate is recognized, it is thought to represent a warming of the order of 1°–2°C above the modern (preindustrial) levels. Post-optimal global cooling resulted in a neoglacial period of glacier readvance, but in early medieval times there was a return to more favorable conditions known as the Little Climatic Optimum or the Medieval Warm Period. This phase lasted from around 750 to 1300 and correlates with the climax of high medieval cultural development and energetic activity. Warmer summer temperatures at this time allowed the development of vineyards in the United Kingdom as far north as York. [See Medieval Climatic Optimum; and Younger Dryas.]
The best known of the climate fluctuations of the Holocene is that of the Little Ice Age. Its occurrence is well documented by a range of archival materials (including annals, chronicles, and ship’s records) and dendrochronological records. It corresponds to a period of cold and highly variable climate and glacial readvance following the Medieval Warm Period, lasting from around 1300 to 1800. The Little Ice Age had widespread consequences for human populations, including high incidences of crop failure (particularly wheat in the United Kingdom), difficult navigation at higher latitudes, abandonment of settlement in marginal areas (including the final decline of the Anasazi culture in the southwestern United States and abandonment of areas of the Scottish uplands), and extreme winter storms.
from here: http://www.oup.com/us/brochure/0195108256/sample.articles/climate/?view=usa
The Holocene
Climate changes leading to the present (Holocene) interglacial commenced around 13,000 bp with a series of rapid fluctuations in climate that culminated in the cold Younger Dryas interstadial. Recovery from the Younger Dryas has been estimated to represent a global warming of the order of 5°–8°C in a period as short as thirty years. Since that time, climate changes have been relatively subtle and related to factors other than the external climatic forcing caused by orbital changes. A range of data sources point to successive variations between warmer and colder periods causing minor retreats and advances of alpine glaciers. The warmest phase of the Holocene period recorded in ice cores was between 10,000 and 8,000 bp, although the traditionally recognized Holocene climatic optimum, termed the altithermal or hypsithermal, is usually described as occurring between 7,000 and 4,000 bp. Where this optimum of Holocene climate is recognized, it is thought to represent a warming of the order of 1°–2°C above the modern (preindustrial) levels. Post-optimal global cooling resulted in a neoglacial period of glacier readvance, but in early medieval times there was a return to more favorable conditions known as the Little Climatic Optimum or the Medieval Warm Period. This phase lasted from around 750 to 1300 and correlates with the climax of high medieval cultural development and energetic activity. Warmer summer temperatures at this time allowed the development of vineyards in the United Kingdom as far north as York. [See Medieval Climatic Optimum; and Younger Dryas.]
The best known of the climate fluctuations of the Holocene is that of the Little Ice Age. Its occurrence is well documented by a range of archival materials (including annals, chronicles, and ship’s records) and dendrochronological records. It corresponds to a period of cold and highly variable climate and glacial readvance following the Medieval Warm Period, lasting from around 1300 to 1800. The Little Ice Age had widespread consequences for human populations, including high incidences of crop failure (particularly wheat in the United Kingdom), difficult navigation at higher latitudes, abandonment of settlement in marginal areas (including the final decline of the Anasazi culture in the southwestern United States and abandonment of areas of the Scottish uplands), and extreme winter storms.
from here: http://www.oup.com/us/brochure/0195108256/sample.articles/climate/?view=usa