Block, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, edit
14,282
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
create article
The '''Roman Warm Period''' was a period of unusually warm weather that ran from approximately 250 BC to 400 AD.<ref name="Desprat"/> Temperatures were approximately 1 degree Celsius warmer than today, according to a study of tree ring data.<ref name=Esper>"[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-296111197.html No wonder the Romans could go out in togas during winter]", ''Daily Mail'' (London), July 12, 2012<br/>Jan Esper, David C. Frank, Mauri Timonen, Eduardo Zorita, Rob J. S. Wilson, Jürg Luterbacher, Steffen Holzkämper, Nils Fischer, Sebastian Wagner, Daniel Nievergelt, Anne Verstege & Ulf Büntgen, "[http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v2/n12/full/nclimate1589.html Orbital forcing of tree-ring data]", Nature Climate Change 2, 862–866 (2012)</ref> There was a particularly warm period extending from 21 to 50 AD.<ref name=Esper/> Various proxies have been proposed as evidence for the Roman Warm Period, such as the Roman introduction of vineyards into Britain.
Olive presses have been found in the Roman city of Sagalassos in [[Anatolia]], although as of 2000 it was too cold to grow olives in this area of southwestern [[Turkey]].<ref name="Scheidel19">Scheidel, Morris Saller (2007), p. 19</ref>
Theophrastus (371 – c. 287 BC) wrote that date trees could grow in Greece if planted, but could not set fruit there. This is the same situation as today, and suggests that southern Aegean mean summer temperatures in the fourth and fifth centuries BC were within a degree of modern temperatures. This and other literary fragments from the time confirm that the Greek climate during that period was basically the same as it was around 2000 AD. Dendrochronological evidence from wood found at the [[Parthenon]] shows variability of climate in the fifth century BC resembling the modern pattern of variation.<ref name="Scheidel17">{{harvnb|Scheidel|Morris|Saller|2007|p=17}}</ref> Tree rings from Italy in the late third century BC indicate a period of mild conditions in the area at the time that [[Hannibal]] crossed the Alps with elephants.<ref name="Scheidel18">Scheidel, Morris Saller (2007), p. 18}}</ref>
The phrase "Roman Warm Period" appears in a 1995 doctoral thesis.<ref>William Paul, "Stable isotopic record of climatic and environmental change in continental settings", 1995, University of Michigan. "The Roman warm period though it has been suggested was responsible in part for advances in civilization, also had a dangerous side."</ref> It was popularized by an article published in ''Nature'' in 1999.<ref name=Bianchi>Bianchi GG, McCave IN, "[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v397/n6719/full/397515a0.html Holocene periodicity in North Atlantic climate and deep-ocean flow south of Iceland]", ''Nature'' '''397''' (6719) 515–7, February 1999.</ref>
==Proxies==
* '''Pollen''': A high resolution pollen analysis of a core from Galicia concluded in 2003 that the Roman Warm Period lasted from 250 BC-450 AD.<ref name="Desprat">Desprat, S., Goñi, M.F.S. and Loutre, M.-F. 2003. "[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X03002929 Revealing climatic variability of the last three millennia in northwestern Iberia using pollen influx data]". ''Earth and Planetary Science Letters'' 213: 63-78.</ref>
*'''Glaciers''': A 1986 analysis of Alpine glaciers concluded that the 100 AD to 400 AD period was significantly warmer than the immediately preceding and following periods.<ref>{{cite book |author=Röthlisberger, F. |title=10,000 Jahre Gletschergeschichte der Erde |publisher=Sauerländer |year=1986 |isbn=3794127978 }}</ref>
*'''Deep ocean sediment''': A 1999 reconstruction of ocean current patterns based on the granularity of deep ocean sediment concluded there was a Roman Warm Period that peaked around 150 AD.<ref name=Bianchi/>
*'''Mollusk shells''': An analysis of oxygen isotopes found in mollusk shells in a Icelandic inlet concluded in 2010 that Iceland experienced an exceptionally warm period from 230 BC to 40 AD.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Patterson WP, Dietrich KA, Holmden C, Andrews JT |title=Two millennia of North Atlantic seasonality and implications for Norse colonies |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=107 |issue=12 |pages=5306–10 |year=2010 |month=March}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Medieval warm period]]
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2011}}
[[Category:Climate history]]
[[Category:250s]]
[[Category:400s]]
[[Category:Roman Empire]]
Olive presses have been found in the Roman city of Sagalassos in [[Anatolia]], although as of 2000 it was too cold to grow olives in this area of southwestern [[Turkey]].<ref name="Scheidel19">Scheidel, Morris Saller (2007), p. 19</ref>
Theophrastus (371 – c. 287 BC) wrote that date trees could grow in Greece if planted, but could not set fruit there. This is the same situation as today, and suggests that southern Aegean mean summer temperatures in the fourth and fifth centuries BC were within a degree of modern temperatures. This and other literary fragments from the time confirm that the Greek climate during that period was basically the same as it was around 2000 AD. Dendrochronological evidence from wood found at the [[Parthenon]] shows variability of climate in the fifth century BC resembling the modern pattern of variation.<ref name="Scheidel17">{{harvnb|Scheidel|Morris|Saller|2007|p=17}}</ref> Tree rings from Italy in the late third century BC indicate a period of mild conditions in the area at the time that [[Hannibal]] crossed the Alps with elephants.<ref name="Scheidel18">Scheidel, Morris Saller (2007), p. 18}}</ref>
The phrase "Roman Warm Period" appears in a 1995 doctoral thesis.<ref>William Paul, "Stable isotopic record of climatic and environmental change in continental settings", 1995, University of Michigan. "The Roman warm period though it has been suggested was responsible in part for advances in civilization, also had a dangerous side."</ref> It was popularized by an article published in ''Nature'' in 1999.<ref name=Bianchi>Bianchi GG, McCave IN, "[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v397/n6719/full/397515a0.html Holocene periodicity in North Atlantic climate and deep-ocean flow south of Iceland]", ''Nature'' '''397''' (6719) 515–7, February 1999.</ref>
==Proxies==
* '''Pollen''': A high resolution pollen analysis of a core from Galicia concluded in 2003 that the Roman Warm Period lasted from 250 BC-450 AD.<ref name="Desprat">Desprat, S., Goñi, M.F.S. and Loutre, M.-F. 2003. "[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X03002929 Revealing climatic variability of the last three millennia in northwestern Iberia using pollen influx data]". ''Earth and Planetary Science Letters'' 213: 63-78.</ref>
*'''Glaciers''': A 1986 analysis of Alpine glaciers concluded that the 100 AD to 400 AD period was significantly warmer than the immediately preceding and following periods.<ref>{{cite book |author=Röthlisberger, F. |title=10,000 Jahre Gletschergeschichte der Erde |publisher=Sauerländer |year=1986 |isbn=3794127978 }}</ref>
*'''Deep ocean sediment''': A 1999 reconstruction of ocean current patterns based on the granularity of deep ocean sediment concluded there was a Roman Warm Period that peaked around 150 AD.<ref name=Bianchi/>
*'''Mollusk shells''': An analysis of oxygen isotopes found in mollusk shells in a Icelandic inlet concluded in 2010 that Iceland experienced an exceptionally warm period from 230 BC to 40 AD.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Patterson WP, Dietrich KA, Holmden C, Andrews JT |title=Two millennia of North Atlantic seasonality and implications for Norse colonies |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=107 |issue=12 |pages=5306–10 |year=2010 |month=March}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Medieval warm period]]
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2011}}
[[Category:Climate history]]
[[Category:250s]]
[[Category:400s]]
[[Category:Roman Empire]]