GLOBAL CHANGE - THE LAST MILLENNIA

The global changes during the last millennia seem predominantly driven by three processes; (1) an acceleration in the Earth's rate of rotati on from about 1000 AD up to 1600-1800 AD, (2) the short-term E-W and S -N redistribution of heat and water masses by pulsation of the ocean c urrent system is response to the interchange of angular momentum betwe en the ''solid'' Earth and the hydrosphere in a feed-back coupling, an d (3) four sunspot minima during the last 500 years. The causal connec tions and dominant driving forces vary with time possessing three main stages, viz. prior to 600 AD, 600-1600 AD and after 1600 AD.