Was the Medieval Warm Period Global?

• Published in: Science
• Main Author: Broecker, Wallace S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2001
• Subjects: Greenland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/33043/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/33043/1/Wallace_Science.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1126/science.291.5508.1497

During the Medieval Warm Period (800 to 1200 A.D.), the Vikings colonized Greenland. In his Perspective, Broecker discusses whether this warm period was global or regional in extent. He argues that it is the last in a long series of climate fluctuations in the North Atlantic, that it was likely global, and that the present warming should be attributed in part to such an oscillation, upon which the warming due to greenhouse gases is superimposed.