Dagomar Degroot: historical climatologist.
I am a senior PhD Candidate in environmental history at York University in Toronto, Ontario. Working under the guidance of Dr. Richard Hoffmann, I use ship logbooks, diaries, correspondence and various quantitative accounts to contribute to the interdisciplinary reconstruction of past climates. I then employ these reconstructions to uncover links between fluctuations in the climate of the Little Ice Age and the equally turbulent human history of the early modern period.
The term "Little Ice Age" refers to a period between roughly 1315 and 1850 when the world's climate was highly variable but generally colder than it was for most of the 20th century. The Little Ice Age was globally expressed in three minima: the Grindelwald Fluctuation between 1560 and roughly 1620, the Maunder Minimum between 1660 and 1720, and the Dalton Minimum between 1760 and 1850. During these minima temperatures across Europe fell between 1 and 2 degrees Celsius below twentieth century averages. Precipitation rose outside of winter, while in many regions storms grew more frequent and more severe.
I explore how the changing climate of the Little Ice Age influenced the cultural, military and economic histories of the Dutch Republic during its golden age in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Republic's explosive economic growth in the early modern era was fueled by the exploitation of high-value energy sources, the intentional manipulation of environments on a gigantic scale and emerging capitalist structures. Our modern economies have their roots in Holland as much as Britain, and I believe that we urgently need to understand how societies grounded on these economic systems respond to climatic fluctuations.
A necessary disclaimer: the existence of a Little Ice Age does not challenge the current reality of global warming. Climate has fluctuated in the past - nothing in the environment is ever stable - but what is happening now is without precedent for its scale and anthropogenic origin. My research is applicable to the present in that it outlines how a society in many respects similar to our own responded to an extreme climate. It does not, however, attempt to disprove anthropogenic global warming.
The term "Little Ice Age" refers to a period between roughly 1315 and 1850 when the world's climate was highly variable but generally colder than it was for most of the 20th century. The Little Ice Age was globally expressed in three minima: the Grindelwald Fluctuation between 1560 and roughly 1620, the Maunder Minimum between 1660 and 1720, and the Dalton Minimum between 1760 and 1850. During these minima temperatures across Europe fell between 1 and 2 degrees Celsius below twentieth century averages. Precipitation rose outside of winter, while in many regions storms grew more frequent and more severe.
I explore how the changing climate of the Little Ice Age influenced the cultural, military and economic histories of the Dutch Republic during its golden age in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Republic's explosive economic growth in the early modern era was fueled by the exploitation of high-value energy sources, the intentional manipulation of environments on a gigantic scale and emerging capitalist structures. Our modern economies have their roots in Holland as much as Britain, and I believe that we urgently need to understand how societies grounded on these economic systems respond to climatic fluctuations.
A necessary disclaimer: the existence of a Little Ice Age does not challenge the current reality of global warming. Climate has fluctuated in the past - nothing in the environment is ever stable - but what is happening now is without precedent for its scale and anthropogenic origin. My research is applicable to the present in that it outlines how a society in many respects similar to our own responded to an extreme climate. It does not, however, attempt to disprove anthropogenic global warming.
