RT Journal Article
T1 Understanding weather and climate of the last 300 years from ships' logbooks
A1 García Herrera, Ricardo Francisco
A1 Barriopedro Cepero, David
A1 Gallego, David
A1 Mellado-Cano, Javier
A1 Wheeler, Dennis
A1 Wilkinson, Clive
AB Ships' logbooks have been preserved in archives of different European countries. This paper reviews how their records provide reliable information relevant to meteorology and climatology, extending the observational record back to at least the early 18th century. This allows describing weather during historical events, improving the knowledge on hurricanes or unveiling multidecadal variability previously unsuspected, such as the steady enhancement of the Australian monsoon, the high variability of the atmospheric circulation over the Euro-Atlantic region during the Late Maunder Minimum or the relationship between the Western North Pacific Summer Monsoon and the El Niño—Southern Oscillation. Observations from ships can feed long-term reanalysis projects and contribute to reduce their uncertainties over the oceans. The extended record of observations also aids the search of analogues before the human fingerprint, thus improving the detection and attribution of climate change. The integration with paleoclimate proxies is a complex task that requires merging heterogeneous records with a wide range of time resolutions, spatial density, and responses to the climate system. However, recent international efforts open the field to new opportunities. Summing up, logbooks are a consistent, but underexploited, source of relevant climatic data that will widen our knowledge of the past climate. This in turn provides a way to better understand present climatic variations and predict future changes.
PB Wiley
SN 1757-7780
YR 2018
FD 2018
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/99189
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/99189
LA eng
NO García-Herrera R., Barriopedro D., Gallego D., Mellado-Cano J., Wheeler D., Wilkinson C. (2018): Understanding weather and climate of the last 300 years from ships' logbooks. WIREs Climate Change. WCC544, 15590525, doi: 10.1002/wcc.544
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 31 dic 2025