Analyzing Weather Data from Historic Logbooks to Assess Changing Wind and Atmospheric Pressure Patterns

这个研究项目利用美国捕鲸船的航海日志分析了历史上的天气模式，以了解在过去大约250年里海洋风和压力模式在空间上是如何变化的。该项目整合了不同的学术分支领域，因为历史学家与海洋学家合作，将仪器气象记录延长到两个世纪以前，并且具有比目前可用的更广泛的地理分布。为了安全起见，水手们在海图和天气数据上记录了航行的危险。该项目从历史日志中提取了大量的气象数据，这些记录迄今为止是现代科学家无法获得的，并在网上免费提供。研究人员利用这些历史天气记录来解决有关风和大气压模式变化的当前问题。这些变化包括与陆地上的亚热带干燥区有关的高压系统的变化，以及引导多雨天气系统通过的西风风暴路径。了解这些风和大气压模式过去的变化具有社会意义，因为这些模式直接影响农业生产力，并可以改进天气预报和建模。此外，该研究可以识别对当代航运具有实际效益的天气和导航数据，强调该项目对现代商业航行和海上防御的重要性。该项目包括对学生进行融合科学方面的培训。研究成果将通过博物馆的非正式学习机会向公众提供，并在跨学科会议上向更广泛的科学界提供。长期数据集对气象研究来说是非常宝贵的，因为它们为测量最近的变化建立了基线，可以验证模型，并阐明大气和海洋是如何相互作用的。被分析的历史日志包含系统的天气观测（例如，风力和风向、风暴、海况、降水、气温、大气压力），这将大大扩展仪器记录。新恢复的历史数据与现有的观测和再分析产品相结合，以了解过去大约250年来地球大气环流变化的稳健性和长期背景。研究人员特别考虑：(a)哈德利环流的变化与副热带干燥区（如美国西南部）的扩张有关；(b)副热带高压系统的强度和位置的变化，作为哈德利环流下降分支的表现，以及南半球西风的强度和位置的变化，这些西风是捕鲸者前往历史上的捕鲸场途中所穿越的，最近经历了强烈的极地转移。了解副热带高压系统和西风风暴路径的长期变化对受这种气象模式影响的任何地区都有意义。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research project analyzes historic weather patterns using American whaling ship logbooks to understand how oceanic wind and pressure patterns have varied spatially over the past approximately 250 years. The project integrates disparate scholarly subfields as historians work with oceanographers to extend the instrumental meteorological record back two centuries and with a broader geographical distribution than is currently available. For safety, mariners recorded hazards to navigation on their charts, as well as weather data. The project extracts substantial meteorological data from historic logbooks, records heretofore inaccessible to modern scientists, and makes them freely available online. The investigators use these historic weather records to address current questions regarding shifts in wind and atmospheric pressure patterns. These include changes in high pressure systems that are related to the subtropical dry zones on land and the westerly storm tracks that steer the passage of rain-bearing weather systems. The understanding of past variability in these wind and atmospheric pressure patterns has societal relevance as these patterns directly impact agricultural productivity and can improve weather forecasting and modelling. Furthermore, the research can identify weather and navigational data that are of practical benefit to contemporary shipping, underscoring the project's importance to modern commercial navigation and maritime defense. The project includes training students in convergent science. Research results will be made available to the public via informal learning opportunities at museums and to the broader scientific community at interdisciplinary conferences.Long-term datasets are invaluable to meteorological research as they establish a baseline against which to measure recent changes, can validate models, and illuminate how the atmosphere and ocean interact. The historic logbooks being analyzed contain systematic weather observations (e.g., wind strength and direction, storms, sea state, precipitation, air temperature, atmospheric pressure) that will significantly extend the instrumental record. The newly-recovered historical data are combined with existing observational and reanalysis products to understand robustness and long-term context of variations in the Earth's atmospheric circulation over the past approximately 250 years. The investigators specifically consider: (a) changes in the Hadley circulation that are related to the expansion of subtropical dry zones, such as in the U.S. Southwest; and (b) changes in strength and position of subtropical high-pressure systems as manifestations of the descending limb of Hadley Cell circulation and changes in strength and position of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds that were traversed by the whalers on their way to historical whaling grounds and which have recently experienced strong poleward shifts. Understanding long-term variability in subtropical high-pressure systems and westerly storm tracks has relevance for any regions affected by such meteorological patterns.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.