Medieval Warm Period

The Medieval Warm Period MWP, also asked as a Medieval Climate Optimum or a Medieval Climatic Anomaly, was a time of warm Climate proxy records show peak warmth occurred at different times for different regions, which indicate that the MWP was not a globally uniform event.

The MWP was followed by a cooler period in the North Atlantic as well as elsewhere, which is termed the Little Ice Age LIA. Some refer to the event as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly to emphasize that climatic effects other than temperature were also important.

Possible causes of the MWP put increased solar activity, decreased volcanic activity, in addition to changes in ocean circulation.

Global climate during the Medieval Warm Period

In 2019, by using an extended proxy data set, the Pages-2k consortium confirmed that the Medieval Climate Anomaly was not a globally-synchronous event. The warmest 51-year period within the MWP did not occur at the same time in different regions. They argue for a regional instead of global framing of climate variability in the preindustrial Common Era to aid in understanding.