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The year without a summer

Nature Geoscience volume 8, pages 246–248 (2015)Cite this article

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The 1815 eruption of Tambora caused an unusually cold summer in much of Europe in 1816. The extreme weather led to poor harvests and malnutrition, but also demonstrated the capability of humans to adapt and help others in worse conditions.

Large volcanic eruptions in the tropics can temporarily alter climate around the world, causing global cooling1 and shifting precipitation patterns. One particularly well-described example is the 1815 eruption of Tambora, which caused the 1816 “year without a summer” in Europe2,3,4,5. The unusual cooling and anomalous rainfall led to a host of problems for many residents of western and central Europe, and may have helped to spur emigration to the Americas. But as we argue here, the effects of the Tambora eruption were not uniform across Europe. And people who were not the hardest hit showed a surprising willingness to help those who were suffering.

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Figure 1: Climate anomalies with respect to the 1951–1980 period in 1816.
Figure 2: Climate and societal interactions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. J. Luterbacher is in the Department of Geography, Climatology, Climate Dynamics and Climate Change, Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Senckenbergstrasse 1, D-35390 Giessen, Germany,

    J. Luterbacher

  2. C. Pfister is at the Oeschger Centre for Climatic Change Research (OCCR), Falkenplatz 16, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland,

    C. Pfister

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  1. J. Luterbacher
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Correspondence to J. Luterbacher.

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Luterbacher, J., Pfister, C. The year without a summer. Nature Geosci 8, 246–248 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2404

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