Damaging hydrological events during the exiting of the Little Ice Age in a highland area of Southern Italy

Abstract

Historical documentary sources reflect a myriad of social, cultural, political, and scientific narratives about weather, climate and hydrological effectiveness. Their use in climate research provides an important contribution to current debates about climate and related damaging hydrological events. In Europe, the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA, 1840-1920) was characterized by an unusual mixture of storms, floods and landslides. They have marked profoundly the regional landscape of the highlands of the Tammaro area (Campano Apennines, Southern Italy). In this way, we found that episodes of climate variability and its extremes have often disrupted ecosystems during stormy wintertimes (September-March) by injuring plant development phases, and causing sometimes disruption, while also creating new interactions with the agricultural and social environment. The results indicated that the end of the 19th century was the stormiest period of the series 1800-2000, in conjunction with landscape deforestation started in 1850.