The Lessons of Climatic History
Studies of past climates show unequivocally what can happen to our atmospheric environment. From climatic history we can learn several very specific lessons. The climate can change rapidly. Major climatic changes, such as the change from glacial to non-glacial conditions, can occur in a few centurie...
Published in: | Environmental Conservation |
---|---|
Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1975
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0376892900001296 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0376892900001296 |
id |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0376892900001296 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0376892900001296 2024-03-03T08:42:15+00:00 The Lessons of Climatic History Bryson, Reid A. 1975 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0376892900001296 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0376892900001296 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Environmental Conservation volume 2, issue 3, page 163-170 ISSN 0376-8929 1469-4387 Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Pollution Water Science and Technology journal-article 1975 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0376892900001296 2024-02-08T08:30:41Z Studies of past climates show unequivocally what can happen to our atmospheric environment. From climatic history we can learn several very specific lessons. The climate can change rapidly. Major climatic changes, such as the change from glacial to non-glacial conditions, can occur in a few centuries, even though the adjustment of biota and the wasting of continental ice-sheets may take longer. Smaller changes may take only decades. Changed climatic states may persist for centuries or millennia. While the climatic excursion of this century appears to have lasted half-a-century or so, the ‘little ice-age’ was at least three centuries long (roughly 1550–1850 A.D.), a North American drought period lasted two centuries, and there was a monsoon failure of seven centuries. These have all been recorded in the evidence of Nature. Climatic changes may occur in different senses in different parts of the world. This paper has outlined several cases where cooling in the sub-Arctic was associated with reduced rainfall or increased frequency of failure of the monsoon, and a case in which drought in North America was concomitant with wet weather in western Europe. The climate we think of as normal is quite abnormal by the standards of the past few centuries, and the magnitude of the change since 1945 is significant by comparison with similar changes in the past. Combining the nature of the recent climatic change with the present narrow margin of world food-grain reserves, an urgent need to consider and react to the possibility of continued climatic variation is indicated. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Cambridge University Press Arctic Environmental Conservation 2 3 163 170 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Pollution Water Science and Technology |
spellingShingle |
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Pollution Water Science and Technology Bryson, Reid A. The Lessons of Climatic History |
topic_facet |
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Pollution Water Science and Technology |
description |
Studies of past climates show unequivocally what can happen to our atmospheric environment. From climatic history we can learn several very specific lessons. The climate can change rapidly. Major climatic changes, such as the change from glacial to non-glacial conditions, can occur in a few centuries, even though the adjustment of biota and the wasting of continental ice-sheets may take longer. Smaller changes may take only decades. Changed climatic states may persist for centuries or millennia. While the climatic excursion of this century appears to have lasted half-a-century or so, the ‘little ice-age’ was at least three centuries long (roughly 1550–1850 A.D.), a North American drought period lasted two centuries, and there was a monsoon failure of seven centuries. These have all been recorded in the evidence of Nature. Climatic changes may occur in different senses in different parts of the world. This paper has outlined several cases where cooling in the sub-Arctic was associated with reduced rainfall or increased frequency of failure of the monsoon, and a case in which drought in North America was concomitant with wet weather in western Europe. The climate we think of as normal is quite abnormal by the standards of the past few centuries, and the magnitude of the change since 1945 is significant by comparison with similar changes in the past. Combining the nature of the recent climatic change with the present narrow margin of world food-grain reserves, an urgent need to consider and react to the possibility of continued climatic variation is indicated. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bryson, Reid A. |
author_facet |
Bryson, Reid A. |
author_sort |
Bryson, Reid A. |
title |
The Lessons of Climatic History |
title_short |
The Lessons of Climatic History |
title_full |
The Lessons of Climatic History |
title_fullStr |
The Lessons of Climatic History |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Lessons of Climatic History |
title_sort |
lessons of climatic history |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1975 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0376892900001296 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0376892900001296 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Environmental Conservation volume 2, issue 3, page 163-170 ISSN 0376-8929 1469-4387 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0376892900001296 |
container_title |
Environmental Conservation |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
163 |
op_container_end_page |
170 |
_version_ |
1792497689522339840 |