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The Abrupt End of the Little Ice Age in an Alpine Region of Central North America
Reference
Schuster, P.F., White, D.E., Naftz, D.L. and Cecil, L.D.  2000.  Chronological refinement of an ice core record at Upper Fremont Glacier in south central North America.  Journal of Geophysical Research 105: 4657-4666.

What was done
A 160-meter ice core removed from Wyoming's Upper Fremont Glacier in 1991 was meticulously studied by means of electrical conductivity measurements, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive analysis, and isotopic and chemical analyses.

What was learned
It was determined, in the words of the authors, that "the termination of the Little Ice Age was abrupt with a major climatic shift to warmer temperatures around 1845 A.D."  They also note that "a conservative estimate for the time taken to complete the Little Ice Age climatic shift to present-day climate is about 10 years."

What it means
These results demonstrate that a very significant climate warming occurred over a very short time span about a century-and-a-half ago in an alpine region of central North America.  In addition, it is clear - occurring when it did - that this dramatic rise in temperature was a natural event, not forced in any way by human activities.  Were such an event to occur today, however, it would be heralded by CO2-hating climate alarmists as undisputed proof that humanity had caused it.  And they would have absolutely no trouble convincing almost everyone that such was true, as they have already convinced many that the non-warming of the past seventy years was the most dramatic climate change of the past millennium (see our Editorial of 1 July 2000 There Has Been No Global Warming for the Past 70 Years)!  Of course, the climate alarmists would still be wrong; but what would it matter?  They would have gotten their way with the world.