http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2020GH000277
Abstract
The H1N1“Spanish influenza”pandemic of 1918–1919 caused the highest known number ofdeaths recorded for a single pandemic in human history. Several theories have been offered to explainthe virulence and spread of the disease, but the environmental context remains underexamined. Inthis study, we present a new environmental record from a European, Alpine ice core, showing a significantclimate anomaly that affected the continent from 1914 to 1919. Incessant torrential rain and decliningtemperatures increased casualties in the battlefields of World War I (WWI), setting the stage for the spread ofthe pandemic at the end of the conflict. Multiple independent records of temperature, precipitation, andmortality corroborate thesefindings