Homeric Minimum

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The Homeric Minimum is a grand

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

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

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.

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,

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

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.

— Ezekiel, Book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:4–28), Old Testament

Other effects

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

References

  1. ^ Geel et al. 2012, p. 401.
  2. ^ Landscheidt, T. (1987). "Long-range forecasts of solar cycles and climate change". In Rampino, M.; Sanders, J.; Newman, W.; Konigsson, L. (eds.). Climate History, Periodicity, and Predictability. New York: van Nostrand Reinhold. p. 428.
  3. ^ a b c d 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. ^
    S2CID 249325599
    .
  7. ^ Harding et al. 2022, p. 2.
  8. ^ a b Davis, Jirikowic & Kalin 1992, p. 23.
  9. Bibcode:2004AGUFM.U43A0739R
    .
  10. S2CID 229678780
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  11. ^ Jin et al. 2023, p. 9.
  12. ^ a b Gearey et al. 2020, p. 2.
  13. ^ a b c Rach et al. 2017, p. 45.
  14. ^ a b Davis, Jirikowic & Kalin 1992, pp. 27–28.
  15. S2CID 232291038
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  16. S2CID 235550072
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  17. ^ Rach et al. 2017, p. 44.
  18. ISSN 0031-0182
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  19. ^
    S2CID 259055726
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  20. ^
    S2CID 126769397
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  21. ^
    doi:10.1111/bor.12409
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  22. ^
    S2CID 245487278
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  23. ^
    S2CID 126763553
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  24. S2CID 121037707
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  25. ^
    ISBN 978-1-108-83564-0
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  26. ISBN 978-1-139-05081-4
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  27. S2CID 133757376
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  28. ISSN 0096-3941
    .
  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. S2CID 134663052
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  33. ^ Harding et al. 2022, p. 9.
  34. S2CID 127349575
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  35. ^ Rach et al. 2017, p. 50.
  36. ^ Davis, Jirikowic & Kalin 1992, p. 29.
  37. S2CID 244609113
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  38. S2CID 228865093
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  39. S2CID 219064656
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  40. ^ a b Neugebauer et al. 2015, p. 1358.
  41. ^ Neugebauer et al. 2015, pp. 1358–1359.
  42. ^ Neugebauer et al. 2015, p. 1368.
  43. S2CID 128587671
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  44. S2CID 225555744
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  45. ^ Gearey et al. 2020, p. 17.
  46. S2CID 134721101
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  47. S2CID 224965025
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  48. ^ a b Jin et al. 2023, p. 1.
  49. S2CID 259815589
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Sources

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