2023 was a warm year. But let’s put it into context. To do that, a 2024 study looked at temperature and tree core data to assemble summer temperatures all the way back to 1 CE. As for the result- the title speaks for itself…
Sources for this episode:
- Bianchi, G. G., & McCave, I. N. (1999). Holocene periodicity in North Atlantic climate and deep-ocean flow south of Iceland. Nature, 397(6719): 515–517.
- Büntgen, U., Myglan, V. S., Ljungqvist, F. C., McCormick, M., Di Cosmo, N., Sigl, M., Jungclaus, J., Wagner, S., Krusic, P. J., Esper, J., Kaplan, J. O., de Vaan, M. A. C., Luterbacher, J., Wacker, L., Tegel, W., & Kirdyanov, A. V. (2016). Cooling and societal change during the Late Antique Little Ice Age from 536 to around 660 AD. Nature Geoscience, 9(3): 231–236.
- Dull, R. A., Southon, J. R., Kutterolf, S., Anchukaitis, K. J., Freundt, A., Wahl, D. B., Sheets, P., Amaroli, P., Hernandez, W., Wiemann, M. C., & Oppenheimer, C. (2019). Radiocarbon and geologic evidence reveal Ilopango volcano as source of the colossal ‘mystery’ eruption of 539/40 CE. Quaternary Science Reviews, 222: 105855.
- Dytham, C. (2011). Choosing and Using Statistics: A Biologist’s Guide (3rd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
- Esper, J., Torbenson, M. and Büntgen, U. (2024), 2023 summer warmth unparalleled over the past 2,000 years. Nature 631: 94-97.
- Goosse, H., Crespin, E., Dubinkina, S., Loutre, M.-F., Mann, M. E., Renssen, H., Sallaz-Damaz, Y., & Shindell, D. (2012). The role of forcing and internal dynamics in explaining the “Medieval Climate Anomaly.” Climate Dynamics, 39(12): 2847–2866.
- Graham, N. E., Ammann, C. M., Fleitmann, D., Cobb, K. M., & Luterbacher, J. (2011). Support for global climate reorganization during the “Medieval Climate Anomaly.” Climate Dynamics, 37(5–6): 1217–1245.
- Lamb, H. H. (1965). The early medieval warm epoch and its sequel. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 1(1): 13–37.
- Lowe, J., & Walker, M. (2015). Reconstructing Quaternary Environments (3rd ed.). Routledge.
- Mann, M. E., Zhang, Z., Rutherford, S., Bradley, R. S., Hughes, M. K., Shindell, D., Ammann, C., Faluvegi, G., & Ni, F. (2009). Global Signatures and Dynamical Origins of the Little Ice Age and Medieval Climate Anomaly. Science, 326(5957): 1256–1260.
- Matthews, J. A., & Briffa, K. R. (2005). The ‘little ice age’: re‐evaluation of an evolving concept. Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography, 87(1): 17–36.
- Shi, F., Sun, C., Guion, A., Yin, Q., Zhao, S., Liu, T., & Guo, Z. (2022). Roman Warm Period and Late Antique Little Ice Age in an Earth System Model Large Ensemble. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 127(16): e2021JD035832.