Astronomy:Homeric Minimum

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Short description: Solar minimum that took place between 800–600 BC

The Homeric Minimum is a grand solar minimum that took place between 2,800 and 2,550 years Before Present (c. 800–600 BC). It appears to coincide with, and have been the cause of, a phase of climate change at that time, which involved a wetter Western Europe and drier eastern Europe. This had far-reaching effects on human civilization, some of which may be recorded in Greek mythology and the Old Testament.

Solar phenomenon

The Homeric Minimum is a persistent and deep[1][2] solar minimum that took place between 2,800 and 2,550 years Before Present,[3] starting around 830 BCE[4] and resembling the Spörer Minimum.[5] It is sometimes named "Great Solar Minimum".[6] It has been subdivided into a stronger minimum at 2,750-2,635 years before present and a secondary minimum 2,614-2,594 years before present.[7] The Homeric Minimum is sometimes considered to be part of a longer "Hallstattzeit" solar minimum between 705–200 BC that also includes a second minimum between 460 and 260 BC.[8] The Homeric Minimum however also coincided with a geomagnetic excursion named "Etrussia-Sterno", which may have altered the climate response to the Homeric Minimum.[9] The name "Homeric Minimum" however is not widely accepted in solar physics.[10]

Mechanisms of climate effects

Variations in the solar output have effects on climate, less through the usually quite small effects on insolation and more through the relatively large changes of UV radiation and potentially also indirectly through modulation of cosmic ray radiation. The 11-year solar cycle measurably alters the behaviour of weather and atmosphere, but decadal and centennial climate cycles are also attributed to solar variation.[3] It is possible that cooling in the North Atlantic predated the Homeric Minimum.[11]

Effects on human populations and climate

Debates on whether a climatic deterioration occurred during that time began already in the late 19th century.[12] The Homeric Minimum has been linked with a phase of climate change,[13] during which the Western United States [14] and Europe became colder[15] but whether it became drier or wetter is under debate;[16] the western parts and the North Atlantic may have become wetter[17] and the eastern parts of Europe drier.[18] This climate oscillation has been called the "Homeric Climate Oscillation"[13] or the "2.8 kyr event",[19][20] and it has been associated with the Iron Age Cold Epoch,[21] the decline of the Urartu kingdom in Armenia[22] and a cultural interruption in Ireland although its effect there is still debated.[12]

Human cultures at that time underwent changes,[13] which also coincide with the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.[23] The climate fallout of this prolonged solar minimum may have had substantial impact on human societies at that time,[24] with a recovery of societies after its end.[25] Increased precipitation over the Eurasian steppes during the Homeric Minimum may have benefitted the Skythes there, however.[26]

It has been speculated that some ancient literary references refer to these phenomena. For example, the period saw the growth of a glacier on Mount Olympus, while Greek mythology and Homer refer to ice and storms on the mountain, which may also be reflected in the name "Olympus".[27] Increased activity of the polar lights at the end of the Homeric Minimum may have inspired Ezekiel's vision of God in the Old Testament.[28]

a stormy wind ... out of the north ... with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth ... as it were gleaming metal ... an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal.

Other effects

A variety of phenomena have been linked to the Homeric Minimum:

  • Increasingly cold, wet and windy climate recorded from Meerfelder Maar in Germany,[29] where the Homeric Minimum has been associated with a permanent climate transition.[30] A wetter climate was also recognized in a bog in the Netherlands;[31] the present-day Czech Republic, where it also became colder; and in the British Isles.[20]
  • A growth in the size of lakes and downward expansion of conifer forests took place in Western North America at the time of the Homeric Minimum.[14]
  • Decreased sea levels are recorded from the Homeric Minimum.[32]
  • Increased storminess in Scotland, England and Sweden.[33][21]
  • Increased precipitation in northern Iberia. Such a precipitation increase took place a few decades after the Homeric Minimum and increased wetness has been noted after other solar minima, as well.[34]
  • Cold sea surface temperatures in the Santa Barbara Basin of California and a cold interval in the Campito Mountain tree ring record. The Homeric Minimum in general seems to be associated with a cold climate in California.[8]
  • Decreased atmospheric pressure differences between Iceland and the subtropics, that is a decreased North Atlantic oscillation.[35]
  • Cooling is also recorded from Asia and the Southern Hemisphere.[36]
  • Gustier springs in Europe and increased cold air outbreaks in East Asia.[37]
  • A weaker monsoon in East Asia,[38] India and Tibet.[39]
  • A wetter climate is recorded for Central Asia.[40]
  • Lake levels in the Caspian Sea rose.[40]
  • Cooling in the Ionian Sea.[25]
  • More frequent floods and storms in the Alps.[41]
  • A dry period in the Eastern Mediterranean, such as at Jerusalem, Lake Van[22] and the Dead Sea appears to coincide with the Homeric Minimum, although the mechanisms for this are not clear.[42]
  • Expansion of glaciers in the Caucasus.[22]
  • A cold and arid climate in Armenia.[22]
  • Increased incision along the River Soar.[43]
  • Increased flooding along the Ammer river.[44]
  • Increased production of carbon-14 and beryllium-10 by cosmic rays, recorded in Greenland.[3] The carbon-14 excursion is also recorded elsewhere and constitutes the largest such spike since 2000 BCE, exceeding the Maunder Minimum.[23] The so-called Hallstatt plateau, an anomaly in carbon-14 production that creates large imprecisions in radiocarbon dating during that time, has been related to the Homeric Minimum.[45]
  • The switch from the Subboreal to the Subatlantic climate epoch in the Blytt–Sernander sequence about 2,800 years before present.[3]
  • The "Göschenen I" glacier advance in the Alps relates to the 2.8 kiloyear event.[46]
  • A change in storm frequency on the Scotian Shelf.[47]
  • Increased precipitation in Sicily.[6]
  • The Bond event 2 is associated with the 2.8 ka event.[48]
  • Cold and dry weather in China is recorded in historical records like the Bamboo Annals.[48]
  • A colder climate in the Khingan Mountains of China.[49]
  • Increased runoff in Corsica.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Geel et al. 2012, p. 401.
  2. ↑ Landscheidt, T. (1987). "Long-range forecasts of solar cycles and climate change". Climate History, Periodicity, and Predictability. New York: van Nostrand Reinhold. p. 428. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Geel et al. 2012, p. 397.
  4. ↑ Kilian, Van der Plicht & Van Geel 1995, p. 962.
  5. ↑ Kilian, Van der Plicht & Van Geel 1995, p. 959.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Giovanni, Zanchetta; Ilaria, Baneschi; Michel, Magny; Laura, Sadori; Rosa, Termine; Monica, Bini; Boris, Vannière; Marc, Desmet et al. (October 2022). "Insight into summer drought in southern Italy: palaeohydrological evolution of Lake Pergusa (Sicily) in the last 6700 years" (in en). Journal of Quaternary Science 37 (7): 1288. doi:10.1002/jqs.3435. ISSN 0267-8179. Bibcode: 2022JQS....37.1280G. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jqs.3435. 
  7. ↑ Harding et al. 2022, p. 2.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Davis, Jirikowic & Kalin 1992, p. 23.
  9. ↑ Raspopov, O. M.; Dergachev, V. A.; Gus'kova, E. G.; Kolstrom, T. (2004-12-01). "Development of the Maunder Type of Solar Activity and Their Climatic Response". AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 43: U43A–0739. Bibcode: 2004AGUFM.U43A0739R. 
  10. ↑ Silverman, Sam M.; Hayakawa, Hisashi (2021). "The Dalton Minimum and John Dalton's Auroral Observations" (in en). Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate 11: 3. doi:10.1051/swsc/2020082. ISSN 2115-7251. Bibcode: 2021JSWSC..11...17S. https://www.swsc-journal.org/articles/swsc/abs/2021/01/swsc200101/swsc200101.html. 
  11. ↑ Jin et al. 2023, p. 9.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Gearey et al. 2020, p. 2.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Rach et al. 2017, p. 45.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Davis, Jirikowic & Kalin 1992, pp. 27-28.
  15. ↑ Lampe, Reinhard; Lampe, Matthias (1 April 2021). "The role of sea-level changes in the evolution of coastal barriers – An example from the southwestern Baltic Sea" (in en). The Holocene 31 (4): 525. doi:10.1177/0959683620981703. ISSN 0959-6836. Bibcode: 2021Holoc..31..515L. 
  16. ↑ Cortizas, Antonio Martínez; Sjöström, Jenny K.; Ryberg, Eleonor E.; Kylander, Malin E.; Kaal, Joeri; López-Costas, Olalla; Fernández, Noemi Álvarez; Bindler, Richard (2021). "9000 years of changes in peat organic matter composition in Store Mosse (Sweden) traced using FTIR-ATR" (in en). Boreas 50 (4): 1174. doi:10.1111/bor.12527. ISSN 1502-3885. 
  17. ↑ Rach et al. 2017, p. 44.
  18. ↑ Słowiński, Michał; Marcisz, Katarzyna; Płóciennik, Mateusz; Obremska, Milena; Pawłowski, Dominik; Okupny, Daniel; Słowińska, Sandra; Borówka, Ryszard et al. (November 2016). "Drought as a stress driver of ecological changes in peatland – A palaeoecological study of peatland development between 3500 BCE and 200 BCE in central Poland" (in en). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 461: 287. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.08.038. ISSN 0031-0182. Bibcode: 2016PPP...461..272S. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Ghilardi, Matthieu; Revelles, Jordi; Mary, Jean-Baptiste; Rita, Federico Di; Delhon, Claire; Delanghe¹, Doriane; Robresco, Sébastien (September 2023). "Mid- to Late-Holocene coastal morphological evolution, vegetation history and land-use changes of the Porto Gulf UNESCO World Heritage site and its surroundings (NW Corsica Island, Western Mediterranean)". The Holocene 33 (9): 1041. doi:10.1177/09596836231176492. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Laurenz, Ludger; Lüdecke, Horst-Joachim; Lüning, Sebastian (1 April 2019). "Influence of solar activity changes on European rainfall". Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 185: 30. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2019.01.012. ISSN 1364-6826. Bibcode: 2019JASTP.185...29L. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Kylander, Malin E.; Söderlindh, Jenny; Schenk, Frederik; Gyllencreutz, Richard; Rydberg, Johan; Bindler, Richard; Martínez Cortizas, Antonio; Skelton, Alasdair (30 August 2019). "It's in your glass: a history of sea level and storminess from the Laphroaig bog, Islay (southwestern Scotland)". Boreas 49: 12. doi:10.1111/bor.12409. 
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 Robles, Mary; Peyron, Odile; Brugiapaglia, Elisabetta; Ménot, Guillemette; Dugerdil, Lucas; Ollivier, Vincent; Ansanay-Alex, Salomé; Develle, Anne-Lise et al. (1 February 2022). "Impact of climate changes on vegetation and human societies during the Holocene in the South Caucasus (Vanevan, Armenia): A multiproxy approach including pollen, NPPs and brGDGTs" (in en). Quaternary Science Reviews 277: 20. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107297. ISSN 0277-3791. Bibcode: 2022QSRv..27707297R. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379121005047. 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Mauquoy, Dmitri; van Geel, Bas; Blaauw, Maarten; Speranza, Alessandra; van der Plicht, Johannes (27 July 2016). "Changes in solar activity and Holocene climatic shifts derived from 14C wiggle-match dated peat deposits" (in en). The Holocene 14 (1): 49. doi:10.1191/0959683604hl688rp. Bibcode: 2004Holoc..14...45M. https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/2951710/2004HoloceneMauquoy.pdf. 
  24. ↑ Ogurtsov, M. G.; Zaitseva, G. I.; Dergachev, V. A.; Raspopov, O. M. (1 December 2013). "Deep solar activity minima, sharp climate changes, and their impact on ancient civilizations" (in en). Geomagnetism and Aeronomy 53 (8): 920. doi:10.1134/S0016793213080227. ISSN 1555-645X. Bibcode: 2013Ge&Ae..53..917R. 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Pratt, Catherine E. (2021). Oil, Wine, and the Cultural Economy of Ancient Greece: From the Bronze Age to the Archaic Era. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-108-83564-0. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/oil-wine-and-the-cultural-economy-of-ancient-greece/258415EFC50DD1174CE318AED1E6EE75. 
  26. ↑ Brooke, John L. (2014). Climate Change and the Course of Global History: A Rough Journey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 324. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139050814. ISBN 978-1-139-05081-4. http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ref/id/CBO9781139050814. 
  27. ↑ Styllas, Michael N.; Schimmelpfennig, Irene; Benedetti, Lucilla; Ghilardi, Mathieu; Aumaître, Georges; Bourlès, Didier; Keddadouche, Karim (August 2018). "Late-glacial and Holocene history of the northeast Mediterranean mountain glaciers – New insights from in situ -produced 36 Cl – based cosmic ray exposure dating of paleo-glacier deposits on Mount Olympus, Greece" (in en). Quaternary Science Reviews 193: 262. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.06.020. ISSN 0277-3791. Bibcode: 2018QSRv..193..244S. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01832838/file/Styllas%20et%20al_R2%20QSR.pdf. 
  28. ↑ Siscoe, George L.; Silverman, Samuel M.; Siebert, Keith D. (2002). "Ezekiel and the Northern Lights: Biblical aurora seems plausible". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union 83 (16): 3. doi:10.1029/2002eo000113. ISSN 0096-3941. Bibcode: 2002EOSTr..83..173S. 
  29. ↑ Geel et al. 2012, p. 398.
  30. ↑ Rach et al. 2017, p. 52.
  31. ↑ Kilian, Van der Plicht & Van Geel 1995, p. 965.
  32. ↑ Lampe, Matthias; Lampe, Reinhard (2018). "Evolution of a large Baltic beach ridge plain (Neudarss, NE Germany): A continuous record of sea-level and wind-field variation since the Homeric Minimum" (in en). Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 43 (15): 3049. doi:10.1002/esp.4468. ISSN 1096-9837. Bibcode: 2018ESPL...43.3042L. 
  33. ↑ Harding et al. 2022, p. 9.
  34. ↑ Martín-Chivelet, J.; Edwards, R. L.; Muñoz-García, M. B.; Gómez, P.; Sánchez, L.; Garralón, A.; Ortega, A. I.; Marín-Roldán, A. et al. (1 December 2015). "Long-term hydrological changes in northern Iberia (4.9–0.9 ky BP) from speleothem Mg/Ca ratios and cave monitoring (Ojo Guareña Karst Complex, Spain)" (in en). Environmental Earth Sciences 74 (12): 7751. doi:10.1007/s12665-015-4687-x. ISSN 1866-6299. Bibcode: 2015EES....74.7741C. https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/118315/1/EES_2015_inpress_Juncal.pdf. 
  35. ↑ Rach et al. 2017, p. 50.
  36. ↑ Davis, Jirikowic & Kalin 1992, p. 29.
  37. ↑ Park, Jinheum; Jin, Qiuhong; Choi, Jieun; Bahk, Junbeom; Park, Jungjae (15 December 2021). "Late Holocene climate variability in central Korea indicated by vegetation, geochemistry, and fire records of the Yongneup moor" (in en). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 584: 110705. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110705. ISSN 0031-0182. Bibcode: 2021PPP...584k0705P. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018221004909. 
  38. ↑ Tan, Liangcheng; Li, Yanzhen; Wang, Xiqian; Cai, Yanjun; Lin, Fangyuan; Cheng, Hai; Ma, Le; Sinha, Ashish et al. (2020). "Holocene Monsoon Change and Abrupt Events on the Western Chinese Loess Plateau as Revealed by Accurately Dated Stalagmites" (in en). Geophysical Research Letters 47 (21): 1. doi:10.1029/2020GL090273. ISSN 1944-8007. Bibcode: 2020GeoRL..4790273T. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020GL090273. 
  39. ↑ Sun, Zhe; Yuan, Kan; Hou, Xiaohuan; Ji, Kejia; Li, Can-Ge; Wang, Mingda; Hou, Juzhi (1 August 2020). "Centennial-scale interplay between the Indian Summer Monsoon and the Westerlies revealed from Ngamring Co, southern Tibetan Plateau" (in en). The Holocene 30 (8): 1169. doi:10.1177/0959683620913930. ISSN 0959-6836. Bibcode: 2020Holoc..30.1163S. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0959683620913930. 
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Neugebauer et al. 2015, p. 1358.
  41. ↑ Neugebauer et al. 2015, pp. 1358-1359.
  42. ↑ Neugebauer et al. 2015, p. 1368.
  43. ↑ Brown, Antony G.; Toms, Phillip S.; Carey, Chris J.; Howard, Andy J.; Challis, Keith (2013). "Late Pleistocene–Holocene river dynamics at the Trent-Soar confluence, England, UK" (in en). Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 38 (3): 10. doi:10.1002/esp.3270. ISSN 1096-9837. Bibcode: 2013ESPL...38..237B. 
  44. ↑ Rimbu, N.; Lohmann, G.; Ionita, M.; Czymzik, M.; Brauer, A. (2021). "Interannual to millennial-scale variability of River Ammer floods and its relationship with solar forcing" (in en). International Journal of Climatology 41 (S1): 651. doi:10.1002/joc.6715. ISSN 1097-0088. 
  45. ↑ Gearey et al. 2020, p. 17.
  46. ↑ Kronig, Olivia; Ivy-Ochs, Susan; Hajdas, Irka; Christl, Marcus; Wirsig, Christian; Schlüchter, Christian (1 April 2018). "Holocene evolution of the Triftje- and the Oberseegletscher (Swiss Alps) constrained with 10Be exposure and radiocarbon dating" (in en). Swiss Journal of Geosciences 111 (1): 127. doi:10.1007/s00015-017-0288-x. ISSN 1661-8734. 
  47. ↑ Yang, Yang; Maselli, Vittorio; Normandeau, Alexandre; Piper, David J. W.; Li, Michael Z.; Campbell, D. Calvin; Gregory, Taylor; Gao, Shu (16 October 2020). "Latitudinal Response of Storm Activity to Abrupt Climate Change During the Last 6,500 Years". Geophysical Research Letters 47 (19): 8. doi:10.1029/2020GL089859. Bibcode: 2020GeoRL..4789859Y. 
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Jin et al. 2023, p. 1.
  49. ↑ Han, Dongxue; Sun, Yang; Yu, Zicheng; Jiang, Ming; Cong, Jinxin; Gao, Chuanyu; Wang, Guoping (September 2023). "Diatom evidence for late Holocene environmental change in a permafrost peatland in the northern Greater Khingan Mountains, Northeast China" (in en). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 625: 5. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111665. https://www-sciencedirect-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0031018223002833. 

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