How volcanoes and famine caused the Black Death coming via the Black Sea

What a chain of events during the Little Ice Age (about 1300 to about 1850 CE)!

"... These lines of evidence all pointed to violent volcanic eruptions around 1345, which would have dumped sulfur and ash into the atmosphere and caused a wet chill across Europe and the Mediterranean.

Written records showed that these weather conditions, in turn, caused simultaneous crop failures in Spain, France, Italy, Egypt, and the Levant. To prevent famine, Italian port cities like Venice, Pisa, and Genoa used their trade connections with the Mongols of the Golden Horde to import grain from the Black Sea Region in 1347. Unfortunately, the grain likely contained fleas infected with Yersinia pestis—and thus the plague jumped to rodents, followed by humans. ..."

From the abstract:

"The first wave of the second plague pandemic, the Black Death, claimed much of Europe’s human population in just a few years after 1347 CE. While it is accepted that the causative bacterium Yersinia pestis originated from wildlife rodent populations in central Asia and reached Europe via the Black Sea region, reasons for the timing, spread and virulence of the onset of the Black Death are still debated.

Here, we argue that a post-volcanic climate downturn and trans-Mediterranean famine from 1345–1347 CE forced the Italian maritime republics of Venice, Genoa and Pisa to activate their well-established supply network and import grain from the Mongols of the Golden Horde around the Sea of Azov in 1347 CE.

This climate-driven change in long-distance grain trade not only prevented large parts of Italy from starvation but also introduced the plague bacterium to Mediterranean harbours and fueled its rapid dispersal across much of Europe."

ScienceAdviser

Climate-driven changes in Mediterranean grain trade mitigated famine but introduced the Black Death to medieval Europe

Fig. 1: Volcanic forcing and summer cooling.

Fig. 3: Grain trade and plague dispersal.

More evidence a cold spell helped doom the Roman Empire

Yes, the climate on Earth keeps on changing from warm to cold and vice versa over the centuries! Why should it now be different? Because some demagogues or charlatan scientists call it now "human-driven" or even "anthropogenic"?

After the Little Antique Ice Age (from about 536 CE to 660 CE) followed the Medieval Warm Period (from about 950 CE to 1250 CE) and the Little Ice Age (from about 1650 CE to 1850 CE) etc. We all should be happier as it is a little warmer now! 😊

"Historians have long debated the reasons why the Roman Empire—which once stretched across the Mediterranean sea and from northern Africa to the U.K.—collapsed. Recently, some have pointed to a sudden period of cooling called the Late Antique Little Ice Age. This cold spell could have hindered agricultural production, facilitated disease outbreaks, and driven people to migrate. According to a new paper, serendipitously discovered rocks on the shore of Iceland add to the evidence for this chilly period. ...

Analyses indicated that the rocks came from Greenland—most likely carried by icebergs that broke off from the island’s glaciers. The layer of soil the granite rocks were found in dates back to roughly 500 to 700 C.E., which is around the time Rome fell. For so many rocks to have moved at that time, there must have been tons of icebergs, which would occur if cold temperatures were promoting glacier growth.

If that’s the case, the change in climate may have compounded the troubles of an empire that was already in decline. “When it comes to the fall of the Roman empire, this climate shift may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back,” ..."

From the abstract: (I skipped, because the abstract is too technical and narrow focused)

ScienceAdviser

Ancient rocks boost case for mini ice age linked to fall of Rome "Unusual rocks on an Icelandic beach were dropped there by icebergs, adding to evidence that an unusually cool period preceded the collapse of the Roman Empire"

Greenlandic debris in Iceland likely tied to Bond event 1 ice rafting in the Dark Ages (no public access)

How 200-year-old whaling logs are helping scientists track climate change. Really!

About 1840-1850, the Little Ice Age ended! This is junk science and junk journalism!

The year 1740 was the coldest in the northern hemisphere in 600 years

How many people know that the last Ice Age (aka the Little Ice Age) only ended around 1820-50 CE? It started around 1300 CE. Before that was the Medieval Warm Period.

Don't let the daily Global Warming hoax and Climate Change religion/alarmism/hysteria/demagoguery fool you! We still know only very little about the past and present climate on earth!

"... Europe experienced its coldest winter in 600 years during 1739–1740, ~4 °C cooler than the present average, also coinciding with negative temperature anomalies across North America and Eurasia. Indeed, for northern midlatitudes (35–70 °N) as a whole, it may have been the coldest season in the last 300 years. ...
Instead, they turned to the East Atlantic pattern (similar to North Atlantic Oscillation but running east to west across the ocean basin), which experienced an unusual negative phase during spring 1740 (the first of its kind since these specific records began in 1421). This would have led to below-average temperatures across Europe as a whole, as well as below-average precipitation to the north and above-average to the south of the continent. ..."

From the abstract:

"The winter 1739/40 is known as one of the coldest winters in Europe since early instrumental measurements began. Many contemporary sources discuss the cold waves and compare the winter to that of 1708/09. It is less well known that the year 1740 remained cold until August and again in October, and that negative temperature anomalies are also found over Eurasia and North America. The 1737/40 cold season over northern midlatitude land areas was perhaps the coldest in 300 years, and 1740 was the coldest year in Central Europe in 600 years. New monthly, global climate reconstructions allow addressing this momentous event in greater detail, while daily observations and weather reconstructions give insight into the synoptic situations. Over Europe, we find that the event was initiated by a strong Scandinavian blocking in early January, allowing the advection continental cold air. From February until June, high pressure dominated over Ireland, arguably associated with frequent East Atlantic blocking. This led to cold air advection from the cold northern North Atlantic. During the summer, cyclonic weather dominated over Central Europe, associated with cold and wet air from the Atlantic. The possible role of oceanic influences (El Niño) and external forcings (eruption of Mount Tarumae in 1739) are discussed. While a possible El Niño event might have contributed to the winter cold spells, the East Atlantic blocking is arguably unrelated to either El Niño or the volcanic eruption. In all, the cold year of 1740 marks one of the strongest, arguably unforced excursions in European temperature."

The year 1740 was the coldest in Central Europe in 600 years: Study seeks to answer why

The weather of 1740, the coldest year in Central Europe in 600 years (preprint, open access)

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