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Climatic trends and anomalies in Europe 1676–1715
Quaternary
Pergamon
Reviews,Vol. 14, pp. 1043-1050, 1995. Copyright 0 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved. 02173791195 $29.00
Science
BOOK REVIEWS
QSR
whole, its lack of structured argument and non-critical acceptance of ideas being unusual. However, such readers will still find much of value here, mainly in the wealth of examples presented, and should find it a worthwhile volume to sample at their leisure. Derek Ager died before this book was published. The New Catastrophism serves as a worthwhile memorial, showing the benefits of long and varied experiences as a geologist in presenting a fresh and provocative outlook onto the subject. This book is worthy of reading as it reminds us all why we are interested in earth science - it is stimulating and fun to read.
The New Catastrophism: The Importance of the Rare Event in Geological History, by Ager, D. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, E13.95 (p/b), 231 pp.
1993. ISBN 0 521 48358 1.
There has been increased interest in episodic events and geocatastrophes in recent years, although careful reading of earlier literature reveals that ‘catastrophism’ never disappeared completely from the geological literature. In this book, Derek Ager concludes a long and noteworthy career with a personal view of the importance of these events, which he emphasised increasingly through his later writings (e.g. Ager, 1986). Many of the ideas contained in this book are becoming increasingly familiar, but Ager puts them together in a way which reveals links and contrasts where they may not have been expected. His comments about catastrophism relating to periodic events causing local disruption emphasise clearly the requirement for any geocatastrophe to be defined relative to the scale being considered (cf. Brunsden, 1990). Further, his use of illustrations from different branches of geology (principally stratigraphy and volcanic geology) demonstrates that catastrophism is more prevalent in some parts of the discipline than in others. There are many further examples from the Quaternary and the present, and Ager shows an uncommon ability to relate these different scales to one another. This is not intended as an academic volume carefully setting out the case for catastrophism, rather it is a collection of ideas and examples arranged in an informal framework which provide a fascinating overview of the subject. The writing style is often anecdotal (as always with this approach, some of the anecdotes will amuse while others irritate), and the general absence of jargon makes this an ideal volume for interested non-specialists to explore. Only toward the end does the nature of the material and the arguments being presented call for a greater level of expertise in the reader. The specialist audience may find this a frustrating book to read as a
REFERENCES Ager, D.V. (1986). Migrating fossils, moving plates and an expanding earth Modern Geology, 10,377-390. Brunsden, D. (1990) Tablets of stone: toward the Ten Commandments of geomorphology. Zeitschrzyt,fir Geomorphologie Supplementband, 79, l-37.
Department
Trevor Hoey of Geography and Topographic Science University of Glasgow, U.K.
Climatic Trends and Anomalies in Europe 16751715. (Special issue: ESF Project European Palaeoclimate and Man S), by Frenzel, B., Pfister, C. and Gllser, B. 1994. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, DM 148, ISBN 3-43730774 6.479 pp. Climatic trends and anomalies in Europe 1675-1715, is subtitled High resolution spatio-temporal reconstructions from direct methodological observations and proxy data, methods and results, and is the thirteenth volume to be produced as part of the burgeoning Palaoklimaforschung series by Gustav Fischer, the first only appearing in 199 1. It comprises the proceedings of a meeting held in Bern in 1992 as a successor to a meeting in Mainz in 1990 1043
1044
Quaternary Science Reviews: Volume 14
(Frenzel et al., 1992) and marks the rapid development of the CLIMHIST programme supported by the ESF. The first meeting brought together workers from all over Europe to investigate the potential observational and proxy sources for historical climatic data, and to initiate a data base from which palaeoclimatic reconstructions could be made. The 1992 meeting demonstrated a remarkable advance in the whole programme, in that not only are high resolution data sets outlined but the first annual synoptic reconstructions are also published. The material concentrates on the period of the late Maunder Minimum, 1675-1715, a period chosen to investigate possible relationships between solar activity and climate change within the “Little Ice Age”. Following a useful, if brief, overview of the Maunder Minimum by Momer, the volume is divided broadly into two parts, firstly a series of quite extensive local and regional sources, some providing data for a wider period than the forty year “window” of the title, and secondly, a section on the CLIMHIST database and the first attempt at synoptic and anomaly reconstruction for 1674-1704. The local and regional sources are divided into the Baltic and North Atlantic, and Central and Western Europe and the Mediterranean (with a single paper, no doubt for good reasons, on China!). Within these few groups are sources as variable as the dairy of Peter the Great including weather records from 1650 in the “Daily Records of the Department of Secret Affairs of the Kremlin” (Borisenkov), rye harvests in the Baltic (Tarand and Kuiv), and an analysis of a range of documentary sources from Iceland (Ogilvie). These are interleaved with two dendroclimatological studies for Fennoscandia (Briffa) and Finland (Vesajoki and Tomberg). This juxtaposition allows a telling comparison of data suitable to demonstrate longer trends or cycles, the tree rings, with sources which inevitably provide more site specific but partial information - the tree rings almost acting as a control or form of calibration putting the more specific evidence into context. A similar, but wider spread of sources is used for Western and Central Europe and the Mediterranean, interspersed with country or area based overviews. Of the latter, the paper by Pfister on Switzerland is very fine. Whilst the data for Switzerland is of a high order and hence amenable to such a synthesis, it is still a good example of what historical palaeoclimatology can achieve. His work also serves to warn against adopting too simplistic an approach to interpreting proxy records, and to reiterate the problems of a temperature dominated approach to climatic reconstruction. In Switzerland, despite 1675-1715 being a period of the coldest winters and springs over the last 450 years, the “ice winters and chilly springs” of the title, glaciers failed to register significant advances, largely due to depressed winter precipitation. Other areas covered include Hungary (Racz), Bohemia and Moravia (Brazdil, Dobrovohnj: Chocholac and Munzar), England (Siegenthaler), Paris (Pfister and Bareiss), Italy (Carnuffo and Enzi), Germany (Gllser, Militzer and van Deursa) and the eastern and central Mediterranean (Grove and Conterio). These regional or local syntheses are again underpinned by a series of den-
droclimatological papers including an introduction to the idea of “signature years” by Spain and Pilcher. The foregoing vast array of data is summarised first by Pfister in discussing “Spatial patterns of climatic change in Europe, A.D. 167551715”, which attempts a broad overview of the late Maunder Minimum, and highlights the probable similarity in pattern to the spatial fingerprint which is a feature of simulated North Atlantic cooling in GCMs. This link is itself a justification of the whole approach in terms of making an important contribution to the debate over identifying, predicting and evaluating the impacts of climatic change. Further justification comes from the papers by Pfister and others on “High resolution spatio-temporal reconstructions of past climate from direct meteorological observations and proxy data” and Wanner and others on “Synoptic interpretation of monthly weather maps for December to May. The level of detail which is now emerging from the CLIMHIST database and the potential for analysis in a variety of ways is a testimony to the huge amount of effort that has been expended in collecting, modifying and analysing the wide variety of data so far discovered. Considering the short timescale over which the project has been active, and the obvious wealth of documentary and dendroclimatological data that has yet to be tapped, the reconstruction of accurate European weather maps, at the very least, on a monthly basis, is a real possibility for the last three centuries, if not over a longer timescale. This Palaoklimaforschung volume is a marked improvement on the volume which emerged from the first meeting (Frenzel et al., 1992). The papers are longer and better presented and the synthesis chapters, mainly due to the improved database available by the 1992 meeting, are important milestones in Little Ice Age palaeoclimatic reconstruction. There is a much sharper definition of aims and objectives and as a result the text, despite being largely a conference volume, has an overall integrity. The only thing that is missing is consideration of the highly topical theme of the relationship of volcanic activity to climate change, not perhaps so relevant between 1675 and 17 15, but probably of relevance for the Little Ice Age. As the database grows and is refined it will provide a unique source with which to analyse all aspects of the climate system over a high resolution timescale. This volume is by no means that last word on CLIMHIST but its contributors are to be congratulated on working so well and effectively, and on communicating their results to the wider scientific audience without undue delay. REFERENCE Frenzel, B., Pfister, C. and Gltiser, B. (1992) ‘European climate reconstructed for documentary data: methods and results’, Paliioklimaforschung Volume 7, Special Issue: ESF Project European Palaeoclimate
and Man, 265 pp.
Chris Caseldine Department of Geography University of Exeter Exeter, U.K.
Pergamon
Reviews,Vol. 14, pp. 1043-1050, 1995. Copyright 0 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved. 02173791195 $29.00
Science
BOOK REVIEWS
QSR
whole, its lack of structured argument and non-critical acceptance of ideas being unusual. However, such readers will still find much of value here, mainly in the wealth of examples presented, and should find it a worthwhile volume to sample at their leisure. Derek Ager died before this book was published. The New Catastrophism serves as a worthwhile memorial, showing the benefits of long and varied experiences as a geologist in presenting a fresh and provocative outlook onto the subject. This book is worthy of reading as it reminds us all why we are interested in earth science - it is stimulating and fun to read.
The New Catastrophism: The Importance of the Rare Event in Geological History, by Ager, D. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, E13.95 (p/b), 231 pp.
1993. ISBN 0 521 48358 1.
There has been increased interest in episodic events and geocatastrophes in recent years, although careful reading of earlier literature reveals that ‘catastrophism’ never disappeared completely from the geological literature. In this book, Derek Ager concludes a long and noteworthy career with a personal view of the importance of these events, which he emphasised increasingly through his later writings (e.g. Ager, 1986). Many of the ideas contained in this book are becoming increasingly familiar, but Ager puts them together in a way which reveals links and contrasts where they may not have been expected. His comments about catastrophism relating to periodic events causing local disruption emphasise clearly the requirement for any geocatastrophe to be defined relative to the scale being considered (cf. Brunsden, 1990). Further, his use of illustrations from different branches of geology (principally stratigraphy and volcanic geology) demonstrates that catastrophism is more prevalent in some parts of the discipline than in others. There are many further examples from the Quaternary and the present, and Ager shows an uncommon ability to relate these different scales to one another. This is not intended as an academic volume carefully setting out the case for catastrophism, rather it is a collection of ideas and examples arranged in an informal framework which provide a fascinating overview of the subject. The writing style is often anecdotal (as always with this approach, some of the anecdotes will amuse while others irritate), and the general absence of jargon makes this an ideal volume for interested non-specialists to explore. Only toward the end does the nature of the material and the arguments being presented call for a greater level of expertise in the reader. The specialist audience may find this a frustrating book to read as a
REFERENCES Ager, D.V. (1986). Migrating fossils, moving plates and an expanding earth Modern Geology, 10,377-390. Brunsden, D. (1990) Tablets of stone: toward the Ten Commandments of geomorphology. Zeitschrzyt,fir Geomorphologie Supplementband, 79, l-37.
Department
Trevor Hoey of Geography and Topographic Science University of Glasgow, U.K.
Climatic Trends and Anomalies in Europe 16751715. (Special issue: ESF Project European Palaeoclimate and Man S), by Frenzel, B., Pfister, C. and Gllser, B. 1994. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, DM 148, ISBN 3-43730774 6.479 pp. Climatic trends and anomalies in Europe 1675-1715, is subtitled High resolution spatio-temporal reconstructions from direct methodological observations and proxy data, methods and results, and is the thirteenth volume to be produced as part of the burgeoning Palaoklimaforschung series by Gustav Fischer, the first only appearing in 199 1. It comprises the proceedings of a meeting held in Bern in 1992 as a successor to a meeting in Mainz in 1990 1043
1044
Quaternary Science Reviews: Volume 14
(Frenzel et al., 1992) and marks the rapid development of the CLIMHIST programme supported by the ESF. The first meeting brought together workers from all over Europe to investigate the potential observational and proxy sources for historical climatic data, and to initiate a data base from which palaeoclimatic reconstructions could be made. The 1992 meeting demonstrated a remarkable advance in the whole programme, in that not only are high resolution data sets outlined but the first annual synoptic reconstructions are also published. The material concentrates on the period of the late Maunder Minimum, 1675-1715, a period chosen to investigate possible relationships between solar activity and climate change within the “Little Ice Age”. Following a useful, if brief, overview of the Maunder Minimum by Momer, the volume is divided broadly into two parts, firstly a series of quite extensive local and regional sources, some providing data for a wider period than the forty year “window” of the title, and secondly, a section on the CLIMHIST database and the first attempt at synoptic and anomaly reconstruction for 1674-1704. The local and regional sources are divided into the Baltic and North Atlantic, and Central and Western Europe and the Mediterranean (with a single paper, no doubt for good reasons, on China!). Within these few groups are sources as variable as the dairy of Peter the Great including weather records from 1650 in the “Daily Records of the Department of Secret Affairs of the Kremlin” (Borisenkov), rye harvests in the Baltic (Tarand and Kuiv), and an analysis of a range of documentary sources from Iceland (Ogilvie). These are interleaved with two dendroclimatological studies for Fennoscandia (Briffa) and Finland (Vesajoki and Tomberg). This juxtaposition allows a telling comparison of data suitable to demonstrate longer trends or cycles, the tree rings, with sources which inevitably provide more site specific but partial information - the tree rings almost acting as a control or form of calibration putting the more specific evidence into context. A similar, but wider spread of sources is used for Western and Central Europe and the Mediterranean, interspersed with country or area based overviews. Of the latter, the paper by Pfister on Switzerland is very fine. Whilst the data for Switzerland is of a high order and hence amenable to such a synthesis, it is still a good example of what historical palaeoclimatology can achieve. His work also serves to warn against adopting too simplistic an approach to interpreting proxy records, and to reiterate the problems of a temperature dominated approach to climatic reconstruction. In Switzerland, despite 1675-1715 being a period of the coldest winters and springs over the last 450 years, the “ice winters and chilly springs” of the title, glaciers failed to register significant advances, largely due to depressed winter precipitation. Other areas covered include Hungary (Racz), Bohemia and Moravia (Brazdil, Dobrovohnj: Chocholac and Munzar), England (Siegenthaler), Paris (Pfister and Bareiss), Italy (Carnuffo and Enzi), Germany (Gllser, Militzer and van Deursa) and the eastern and central Mediterranean (Grove and Conterio). These regional or local syntheses are again underpinned by a series of den-
droclimatological papers including an introduction to the idea of “signature years” by Spain and Pilcher. The foregoing vast array of data is summarised first by Pfister in discussing “Spatial patterns of climatic change in Europe, A.D. 167551715”, which attempts a broad overview of the late Maunder Minimum, and highlights the probable similarity in pattern to the spatial fingerprint which is a feature of simulated North Atlantic cooling in GCMs. This link is itself a justification of the whole approach in terms of making an important contribution to the debate over identifying, predicting and evaluating the impacts of climatic change. Further justification comes from the papers by Pfister and others on “High resolution spatio-temporal reconstructions of past climate from direct meteorological observations and proxy data” and Wanner and others on “Synoptic interpretation of monthly weather maps for December to May. The level of detail which is now emerging from the CLIMHIST database and the potential for analysis in a variety of ways is a testimony to the huge amount of effort that has been expended in collecting, modifying and analysing the wide variety of data so far discovered. Considering the short timescale over which the project has been active, and the obvious wealth of documentary and dendroclimatological data that has yet to be tapped, the reconstruction of accurate European weather maps, at the very least, on a monthly basis, is a real possibility for the last three centuries, if not over a longer timescale. This Palaoklimaforschung volume is a marked improvement on the volume which emerged from the first meeting (Frenzel et al., 1992). The papers are longer and better presented and the synthesis chapters, mainly due to the improved database available by the 1992 meeting, are important milestones in Little Ice Age palaeoclimatic reconstruction. There is a much sharper definition of aims and objectives and as a result the text, despite being largely a conference volume, has an overall integrity. The only thing that is missing is consideration of the highly topical theme of the relationship of volcanic activity to climate change, not perhaps so relevant between 1675 and 17 15, but probably of relevance for the Little Ice Age. As the database grows and is refined it will provide a unique source with which to analyse all aspects of the climate system over a high resolution timescale. This volume is by no means that last word on CLIMHIST but its contributors are to be congratulated on working so well and effectively, and on communicating their results to the wider scientific audience without undue delay. REFERENCE Frenzel, B., Pfister, C. and Gltiser, B. (1992) ‘European climate reconstructed for documentary data: methods and results’, Paliioklimaforschung Volume 7, Special Issue: ESF Project European Palaeoclimate
and Man, 265 pp.
Chris Caseldine Department of Geography University of Exeter Exeter, U.K.