Swiss glacier confusion – the Grindelwald Fluctuation 

Image: Grindelwald by Thomas Fearnley [credit: Wikipedia]

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The source for this is Wikipedia, which starts by saying:
The Grindelwald Fluctuation is a period (in a wider cooling phenomenon) when glaciers in Grindelwald, Switzerland, expanded significantly. Temperatures were 1-2 degrees Celsius lower than twentieth-century averages during this period, which is thought to have lasted from the 1560s to the 1630s.

OK so far, but note the dates. Moving on to ‘Causes’:
The expansion of the Swiss Grindelwald glaciers during this period was likely due to a combination of factors, including volcanic activity, changes in solar radiation, and the sudden decrease in population numbers.

What could population numbers possibly have to do with it? See below. Solar radiation changes – plausible of course, but again, read on.

Now on to the ‘Volcanic Events’:
The Grindelwald Fluctuation is believed to have been partially caused by a slew of volcanic eruptions.

Three such events, all in South America, are listed with dates of 1585, 1595, and 1600. Then we read:
However it is believed that the Grindelwald Fluctuation began some 15 years prior to the first volcanic eruption.

So thousands of miles away from Switzerland, and decades too late to be an initial cause anyway.

Moving on once more, to ‘Solar Activity’:
During the Little Ice Age, the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface was lower than it is today due to an event known as the Maunder Minimum; the most recent Grand Solar Minimum. This minimum lasted from 1645 to 1715 and coincided with the Grindelwald Fluctuation; therefore, the changes in solar radiation are thought to have contributed to the expansion of the Grindelwald glaciers, though it is not clear to what extent.

The problem there of course is that they just told us the Grindelwald Fluctuation ‘is thought to have lasted from the 1560s to the 1630s’, pre-dating the Maunder Minimum entirely. Effects preceding suggested causes by even more decades than the distant volcanoes?

Finally, ‘Decreased Population’:
This decline in population meant that cultivated lands became unkempt, allowing for the regrowth of wild plants. This is thought to have caused the drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide in the sixteenth century that exacerbated the extreme cooling period. However, depopulation is the least significant of the causes of the Grindelwald Fluctuation.

If the population decline is linked to the climate cooling and glacier advance, it can’t be the cause of it. No surprise about the low significance statement given the threadbare waffle in the rest of that section. See the Wikipedia link for more details.

The article concludes:
In historical records, the Grindelwald Fluctuation is characterised by a further drop in temperatures and more frequent cold spells throughout many parts of the world.

Which parts, we ask. The only place named is Bristol, England!