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The Little Ice Age in the High Tatra mountains

Adam Kotarba

Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography and Spatial Organisation, Department of Geomorphology and Hydrology, ul. św. Jana 22, 31-018 Kraków, Poland, e-mail: kotarba@zg.pan.krakow.pl

 Abstract

Climate deterioration of the Little Ice Age was manifested in the most spectacular way in the glaciated high mountains, but it should also be analysed in term of a climatic concept. Spatial variation in LIA climate is illustrated also in non-glaciated areas of the Northern Hemisphere in a broader contex. Extreme climatic events were forcing factors for mountain slope deformation by geomorphic processes in the High Tatra Mountains. The old chronicles, lichenometric dating of landforms and lacustrine sediments are used to determine the beginning of  “Little Ice Age – type events” (about AD 1400) and its end (about AD 1920). During this time span the set of climatic conditions responsible for triggering high-energy geomorphic processes was recognised. The catastrophic hydrometeorological events were concentrated in certain periods. Clustering of weather anomalies and natural disasters resulting from them are discussed in the paper.