The Present Climatic Fluctuation

Bibliographic Data

ID5288712
AuthorsHans W:son Ahlmann, Hans W Son Ahlmann (corresponding author)
Year1948
Volume112
Issue4/6
Pages165
Publication date1948-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographical Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7398 • E-ISSN: 1475-4959
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1789696
OpenAlexW2317516903
LanguageEN
Citations received15

The present climatic fluctuation has been discussed since the iQ2o's almost exclusively in scientific circles,x although recently it has become a subject of more than academic interest.2 The reason for this is the increasingly obvious consequences of this climatic phenomenon on both physical and biological conditions, in Europe and elsewhere. Ordinary people are beginning to realize that something has happened and is happening which is of great interest to themselves. The last dry summer, which transformed large parts of Western Europe into a virtual steppe, increased this interest and also caused anxiety, though this drought cannot be said with any certainty to belong to the present climatic fluctuation. One generally differentiates between climatic variation and climatic fluctuation, meaning by the former a change of climate maintained over a long period of time, by the latter a change over a shorter period. 3 Climatic variations of primary importance are exemplified by the Ice Age glaciations with inter-glacial epochs. Transitional between variations of primary importance and fluctuations we have the climatic changes which have taken place since the last pleistocene glaciation, in post-glacial and historical times. As regards these latter climatic variations I need only say that results obtained by paleobotanical examination of Scandinavian peat bogs have taught us that throughout the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and our so-called historical times the climatic curve has risen and fallen between eras unfavour

Climatology · Geography · Physical geography · Environmental Science · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Marine and environmental studies