Migration and Climate Change

2Living with the Extreme

The most extreme natural events (gray phase of volcanic eruptions, GLOFs* (Glacial Lake Outburst Floods), volcanic winters, rogue waves) were only fully objectified in the 20th Century. The disappearances of the city of Saint-Pierre in 1902, then of Le Morne Rouge, led the vulcanologist Alfred Lacroix to install a camera that was able to capture the discreet slaughterer that was the fiery cloud descending the slopes of the volcano.

However, there is a suspicion that the most extreme phenomena may have played a role in the structuring of cultural and mythological foundations, as evidenced by the representations of volcanic eruptions in the Chauvet Pont d’Arc cave. It is a question of having methodologies that make it possible to link climate data with cultural data. One methodology is that of the folklorists of the 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century: systematic collections were made around natural risks, which provided interesting material, but appeared very disparate and heterogeneous. Since then, archaeological data have been used, using sophisticated dating procedures.

2.1. The example of super-flooding

We will take the example of GLOFs, the super-floods that come from the emptying of the glacial lake. The “academic” category of GLOFs (Glacial Lake Outburst Flood) is a recent introduction: it is the sudden emptying of a sub or periglacial lake, with a destructive power that depends on the volume of water and the height of the waterfall. ...