A new study of the Little Ice Age (LIA), a global climatic event between CE 1671-1942, has revealed that the age was wet and not uniformly cold and dry.
It challenges the traditional belief of a uniformly cold and dry climate with reduced monsoon rainfall during this period.
The Western Ghats experiences both the southwest summer monsoon (SWM) and the northeast winter monsoon (NEM).
Investigating the vegetation dynamics and corresponding hydro-climate variability in an area influenced by both SWM and NEM is vital for understanding monsoonal fluctuations during the last millennium.
A study of pollen-based vegetation dynamics and contemporary climate change and monsoonal variability between CE 1219-1942 was reconstructed from the Western Ghats.
The study highlighted the presence of moist conditions during the Little Ice Age (LIA) in the Western Ghats, likely due to increased NEM influence.
This moist LIA contradicts the expected dry climate associated with the period.
The northward movement of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), positive temperature anomalies, increased sunspot numbers and high solar activity could be driving the climate change and increased SWM.
The southward shift of the ITCZ, resulting from increased northward energy flux across the equator, during a cold northern hemisphere.