Medieval Global Temperature Optimum and the Little Ice Age

     The Medieval Global Temperature Optimum, also known as the Climatic Optimum, Medieval 
Warm Period, or Medieval Warm Epoch refers to a period of history in which temperatures in Europe and regions of the North Atlantic are believed to have exceeded, those of the late 20th century. 

     A Swedish scientist named Leif Kullman performed a study in which he discovered that the planet was warmer in ancient Roman times and the Middle Ages than today. This study challenged the mainstream idea that man made greenhouse gas emissions are the main drivers of global warming today. In this study, Kullman analyzed 455 “radiocarbon-dated mega-fossils” in the Scandes mountains. He discovered an association between the higher tree lines for different species of trees, and higher temperatures.

     Kullman also found that summer temperatures during the early Medieval Warm Period may have been 2.3°C higher than they are now. The temperature spikes during the Roman and Medieval warming period that occurred between 9,000 and 5,000 years ago were succeeded by a gradual cooling period in which there were distinct tree line/temperature dips. This period of time is known as the Little Ice Age.

      For many years now, there has been a scientific consensus that the Earth was warming due to humans releasing greenhouse gases into the air, mostly through burning fossil fuels. For the most part, temperatures stopped rising after 1998, leaving scientists scrambling to find an explanation to the warming of the planet.