Researchers find that unusual volcanic episode rapidly triggered Little Ice Age

30 January 2012
AGU Release No. 12-05
For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, DC—New evidence from northern ice sheets suggests that volcanic eruptions triggered the multiple-century cool spell known as the Little Ice Age, and pinpoints the start of the climate shift to the final decades of the 13th century.

According to the new study, the Little Ice Age began abruptly between 1275 and 1300 A.D., triggered by repeated, explosive volcanism and sustained by a self-perpetuating sea ice-ocean feedback in the North Atlantic Ocean.

For more information, see the full press release from AGU at http://www.agu.org/news/press/pr_archives/2012/2012-05.shtml.


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