Little Ice Age (Canada) -- Summary

Little Ice Age (Canada) -- Summary
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In order to better understand the nature and possible causes of modern global warming, it is important to know what preceded it and why. In this summary, we briefly review what has been learned in this regard from pertinent studies conducted in Canada.
Futter (2003) analyzed data on ice break-up dates and length of ice-free season for several lakes in Southern Ontario, Canada. However, only one lake had ice break-up dates extending back beyond 1910 (Lake Simcoe, to 1853), and only one had ice-free season data extending back beyond 1971 (Lake Simcoe, again to 1853). Hence, Lake Simcoe was the only lake that had sufficient data to determine, in the words of Futter, "whether the trends in Lake Simcoe ice phenology were due to the end of the Little Ice Age, or to more recent warming."