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Why the year 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive’

chuckiechan

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https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/why-536-was-worst-year-be-alive

Ask medieval historian Michael McCormick what year was the worst to be alive, and he's got an answer: "536." Not 1349, when the Black Death wiped out half of Europe. Not 1918, when the flu killed 50 million to 100 million people, mostly young adults. But 536. In Europe, "It was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year," says McCormick, a historian and archaeologist who chairs the Harvard University Initiative for the Science of the Human Past.

This could still happen. Hell, we cant even deal with forest fires in California, and snow in New York, or turds in San Francisco.

No comment on how royalty felt when their ocean front property got flooded!
 
Just wait until Yellowstone blows. That'll be the day.

We think we can control everything, when in reality we have little or no control over natural processes. If the earth decides it wants a 50 mile wide crater in Wyoming, it gets what it wants.
 
From the article:
When a volcano erupts, it spews sulfur, bismuth, and other substances high into the atmosphere, where they form an aerosol veil that reflects the sun's light back into space, cooling the planet. By matching the ice record of these chemical traces with tree ring records of climate, a team led by Michael Sigl, now of the University of Bern, found that nearly every unusually cold summer over the past 2500 years was preceded by a volcanic eruption.​
I wonder whether we might find a huge volcano and trigger its eruption as a way to stem global warming....
 
We think we can control everything, when in reality we have little or no control over natural processes. If the earth decides it wants a 50 mile wide crater in Wyoming, it gets what it wants.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
 
From the article:
When a volcano erupts, it spews sulfur, bismuth, and other substances high into the atmosphere, where they form an aerosol veil that reflects the sun's light back into space, cooling the planet. By matching the ice record of these chemical traces with tree ring records of climate, a team led by Michael Sigl, now of the University of Bern, found that nearly every unusually cold summer over the past 2500 years was preceded by a volcanic eruption.​
I wonder whether we might find a huge volcano and trigger its eruption as a way to stem global warming....

Even if you could trigger it, any climate change would be dependent on the types of aerosols released by the volcano. Plus - it would be short-term, and only temporarily slow down warming. Pinataubo only had a cooling effect for less than 1-1/2 years.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/1510/global-effects-of-mount-pinatubo

The Pinatubo eruption increased aerosol optical depth in the stratosphere by a factor of 10 to 100 times normal levels measured prior to the eruption. (“Aerosol optical depth” is a measure of how much light airborne particles prevent from passing through a column of atmosphere.) Consequently, over the next 15 months, scientists measured a drop in the average global temperature of about 1 degree F (0.6 degrees C).
 
Even if you could trigger it, any climate change would be dependent on the types of aerosols released by the volcano. Plus - it would be short-term, and only temporarily slow down warming. Pinataubo only had a cooling effect for less than 1-1/2 years.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/1510/global-effects-of-mount-pinatubo

The Pinatubo eruption increased aerosol optical depth in the stratosphere by a factor of 10 to 100 times normal levels measured prior to the eruption. (“Aerosol optical depth” is a measure of how much light airborne particles prevent from passing through a column of atmosphere.) Consequently, over the next 15 months, scientists measured a drop in the average global temperature of about 1 degree F (0.6 degrees C).

Red:
Insofar as the current state of abatement is "no term," short-term strikes me as step in the right direction.
 
Red:
Insofar as the current state of abatement is "no term," short-term strikes me as step in the right direction.

Please explain what this accomplishes.
 
We think we can control everything, when in reality we have little or no control over natural processes. If the earth decides it wants a 50 mile wide crater in Wyoming, it gets what it wants.

Pretty much sums it up.

When I read up on geological history, it is rather amazing how stable this blue ball has been over the past several thousand years. It's certainly not the normal state of affairs.

BTW, they found a new impact crater under the ice in Greenland. Supposedly this is the result of a half-mile diameter rock crashing into us a few million years ago. If we get hit by one of those, we are all ****ed.
 
From the article:
When a volcano erupts, it spews sulfur, bismuth, and other substances high into the atmosphere, where they form an aerosol veil that reflects the sun's light back into space, cooling the planet. By matching the ice record of these chemical traces with tree ring records of climate, a team led by Michael Sigl, now of the University of Bern, found that nearly every unusually cold summer over the past 2500 years was preceded by a volcanic eruption.​
I wonder whether we might find a huge volcano and trigger its eruption as a way to stem global warming....

You mean perform a technical feat we have no idea how to do, and with completely uncertain consequences because we can’t control it? And repeat that every decade or so forever since the effect is temporary?

Alternatively, we can just accelerate our transition off fossil fuels and practice conservation.
 
You mean perform a technical feat we have no idea how to do, and with completely uncertain consequences because we can’t control it? And repeat that every decade or so forever since the effect is temporary?

Alternatively, we can just accelerate our transition off fossil fuels and practice conservation.
Red:
No, that's not what I mean, but obviously it's what you inferred from what I wrote.
 
536? That entire period was pretty tough unless you had the good fortune to live in Byzantium.
 
536? That entire period was pretty tough unless you had the good fortune to live in Byzantium.

I think Byzantium would be pretty awful around then.

But then again, I’m not a historian, and only know about the Plague of Justinian from books, not blogs.
 
I think Byzantium would be pretty awful around then.

But then again, I’m not a historian, and only know about the Plague of Justinian from books, not blogs.

Plague not until 541 and, in any case, a bad day in Byzantium was usually better than a good day anywhere else.
 
We think we can control everything, when in reality we have little or no control over natural processes. If the earth decides it wants a 50 mile wide crater in Wyoming, it gets what it wants.

We're just renters.
 
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Never happen with you guys in the AGW dogma. You are already lost in thinking we do more harm than we do.
 
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/why-536-was-worst-year-be-alive



This could still happen. Hell, we cant even deal with forest fires in California, and snow in New York, or turds in San Francisco.

No comment on how royalty felt when their ocean front property got flooded!

Great bit of history there. Thanks!

We don't have the tech to stop a volcano.

Though the 536 AD eruption(s) were worse, 1816 was called "The Year without a Summer" due to a volcanic eruption. The 1883 Krakatoa eruption affected the Earth's temperature for years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer

10 Facts About Krakatoa's 1883 Eruption | Mental Floss
 
Cold is still worse than warm! we all should hope our warm period continues.
 
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