History Channel - Little Ice Age: Big Chill

[Rich Parsons]

It was on this evening. It is a documentary from 2005.

It covers information from the unusually high temperature (* 5 to 6 Degrees C higher than normal *) in 5th through 11th centuries. Then how civilization handled the changes in the climate as it dropped about 2 to 3 Degrees C (* With 4 Degrees C below normal being the lowest *) from the 14th through the 19th centuries.

The last ten to fifteen minutes where discussion on Global warming and differences of opinion could be considered political, but even with this, I think the two hour show was good to express what changed and how they measured it and also some interesting facts of how the cold effected people and or historical events.

If you get a chance I think it is worth your time to check out, and consider.

 

[JasonASmith]

I have seen that show...
I love cold weather, so I think that we need another ice age soon...
However, I believe that the next ice age will be triggered by the supervolcano under Yellowstone :xtrmshock

 

[Don Roley]

What was the reason given for the 5-6 C rise in temp? That is a rather large jump.

 

[Rich Parsons]

What was the reason given for the 5-6 C rise in temp? That is a rather large jump.

The rise before the fall was given as "Normal Fluctuations that occur inbetween ice ages" .

They did point out that a single degree or two would be enough to make noticable change.

During the warm period human population grew to levels not seen before. The grains that were groin were easy to maintain in such weather and made it easy to feed people.

With the cooling the grains survived less and caused more famine, in which case they then discussed the Potato and Beets and other tubers that could survive under ground from excessive rain.

The show was high level and covered it more from a social impact to soceity based upon weather. It was all over in points and coverage. Nothing in real detail, that a scientist would like to see.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I have seen the show and it was good, and the social impacts of it were tremendous.

Many years ago I had to write a paper on the little ice age for a Climatology class in college but that was based more on the science than the sociology.

 

[Don Roley]

During the warm period human population grew to levels not seen before. The grains that were groin were easy to maintain in such weather and made it easy to feed people.

I remember that Norther Africa used to be the bread basket of the Roman Empire. With a lot less water trapped in the ice caps and warmer weather, the tree line used to be a heck of a lot higher in Europe than it is now.

New York state had a bumper year for apples this year I read due to the weather. Japan seems to be heading for a record year for rice- even though last winter was the coldest since the end of the war. Summer was nice and wet and warm.

I do not know if that program will show in Japan, but I hope it does.