The Little Ice Age in the High Tatra mountains

Cli mate de te rio ra tion of the Lit tle Ice Age was mani fested in the most spec tacu lar way in the gla ci ated high moun -tains, but it should also be ana lysed in term of a cli matic con cept. Spa tial varia tion in LIA cli mate is il lus trated also in non- glaciated ar eas of the North ern Hemi sphere in a broader con tex. Ex treme cli matic events were forc ing fac tors for moun tain slope de for ma tion by geo mor phic pro cesses in the High Ta tra Moun tains. The old chroni cles, li che no met ric dat ing of land forms and la cus trine sedi ments are used to de ter mine the be gin ning of “Lit tle Ice Age – type events” (about AD 1400) and its end (about AD 1920). Dur ing this time span the set of cli matic con di tions re spon si ble for trig - ger ing high- energy geo mor phic pro cesses was rec og nised. The cata strophic hy dro me te oro logi cal events were con centrated in cer tain pe ri ods. Clus ter ing of weather anoma lies and natu ral dis as ters re sult ing from them are dis cussed in the pa per.