TITLE:
Was the 4.2 ka Event an Anthropogenic Disaster?
AUTHORS:
Tomasz Jarosław Szczęsny
KEYWORDS:
Holocene Climatic Optimum, Walker Circulation, Monsoon, Green Sahara Period, 4.2 ka Event
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.6 No.10,
September
27,
2016
ABSTRACT: The
article describes a possible impact of demographic explosion during the Neolith
on local ecosystems and on the global climate as well as the role of this
explosion in aggravating the course of 4.2 ka cooling event. A possible role of
human activity in changing the pattern of mid-latitudes westerlies, monsoons
and Walker circulation throughout the Holocene is analyzed. It is explained why
during the Holocene Climatic Optimum (HCO) monsoons could have been weaker than
today, not stronger, as it is commonly stated. It is described how during the
HCO the humid Tibetan Plateau could have repelled the Indian monsoon to the
west and the East Asian monsoon to the north. The explanation for weaker El
Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) during HCO is proposed.