What contributed naval warfare to remarkable winter
and the Arctic sea ice in summer 1917?
Posted 31st March 2019
Do more than 5000 submerged merchant ships, two extremely winters, and
the largest sea ice extent in the North Atlantic (NA) during the entire last Century, in summer 1917, fit together? Yes, at least it is the only convincing explanation for the three extraordinary events. The link is the naval war during the First World War (WWI), causing the extreme cold winter in Western Europe 1916/17, the NA sea-ice in summer 1917, and the record cold winter 1917/18 in North America, by fighting at sea, and U-boats alone could sink several thousand merchant ships from 1916 to 1918 (see Table). Let’s have a look at the three events.
The winter 1916/17 in Europe
All those who lived in Europe through the winter of 1916-17 had
memories of the bitterly freezing conditions, notoriously a very, very cold winter (More here) The Turnip Winter occurred during the winter of 1916–1917 in Germany. Continually poor weather conditions led to a diminished harvest, most notably in cereal productions. (More Wikipedia). The French winter of 1916-1917 was the extreme of cold. The bitter winter was the coldest in living memory for soldiers in France and Flanders. Soldiers suffered from frostbite and exposure, causing them to lose fingers (More). In England the winter seasons (December-February) 1916/17 and 17/18 were both cold. One has to go back to 1891 to find an equivalent cold season (Details) The widespread destruction of Bird-life caused by the severe winter of 1916-1917, and more especially by the prolonged period of frost which extended late into the spring of 1917, was so noticeable that it attracted the attention of the least observant ( More)
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