At first the alarmists tried to ignore both the little ice age and the medieval warm period that came before it. That didn't work too well for them. Now they are coming up with other explanations that downplay the sun's role and emphasize air pollution’s role. To them a volcano IS mother nature's equivalent to SUV’s.
If you will notice this “theory” is once again based largely on computer models that they manipulated to get the results they wanted. The article starts off with, “the Little Ice Age began abruptly between A.D. 1275 and 1300, triggered by repeated, explosive volcanism and sustained by a self-perpetuating sea ice-ocean feedback system”. Then they get a little more specific, “the Little Ice Age was caused by an unusual, 50-year-long episode of four massive tropical volcanic eruptions.” Never mind that the previous statement said that the Little Ice Age began abruptly between A.D. 1275 and 1300 which is a 25 year period.
Then we learn that, “This is the first time anyone has clearly identified the specific onset of the cold times marking the start of the Little Ice Age,”. Umm, yeah right... I guess if you ignore textbooks written fifty years ago that might be true. Since they claim to be the first, I would like to know exactly which “four massive tropical volcanic eruptions” triggered The Little Ice Age.
Of course it gets back to, “Our simulations showed that the volcanic eruptions may have had a profound cooling effect”. I think that most people are aware that volcanic dust in the atmosphere does appear to have a cooling effect on the climate, however it is generally thought that this effect is short-lived because the excess dust generally settles out within a year or two at most. If you ignore the effects of gravity and precipitation in your computer models I suppose that this phenomena could be drawn out far longer than that.
“The team used the NCAR-based Community Climate System Model to test the effects of volcanic cooling on Arctic sea ice extent and mass.” I would be curious if the physical evidence for the massiveness and timing of the four tropical volcanoes is in the historical record or if the evidence is derived from the study’s own computer models. Given the past actions of these particular researchers I would guess that physical observations and evidence played a far smaller role than did the reliance on the all-knowing computer model.
“Then they get a little more specific, “the Little Ice Age was caused by an unusual, 50-year-long episode of four massive tropical volcanic eruptions.”
I wonder where the massive eruptions were. All in Iceland?