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Freezing of the Venetian Lagoon since the 9th century A.D. in comparision to the climate of western Europe and England

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Abstract

In the first part of this study, typical of historical climatology, the various sources regarding freezing of the Venetian Lagoon since the 9th century A.D., are reported and discussed. The events are related, where possible, to teleconnections. Two synoptic patterns (weather type A: northerly and D: easterly) seem to have played an important role. After having discussed the dynamics of the icing processes, the problem of comparing the data is considered, as over the centuries many works were made on the Lagoon, in order to divert the major tributaries. In fact, the hydrological regime and the physical characteristic of the Lagoon environment were changed, so that the conditions necessary for freezing were no longer the same. The series was compared with the severe winters in westtern Europe and England, in order to reconstruct the past climate of the Mediterranean region and discuss the observed secular changes in the light of the widely accepted ideas of climatic variations. The comparison shows some differences: e.g. at Venice the Medieval Climatic Optimum with the occurrence of severe winters ended earlier and the Little Ice Age was broken by a milder interval.

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  1. National Research Council, CNR-ICTR, Corso Stati Uniti 4, I-35020, Padova, Italy

    Dario Camuffo

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Camuffo, D. Freezing of the Venetian Lagoon since the 9th century A.D. in comparision to the climate of western Europe and England. Climatic Change 10, 43–66 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00140556

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