Mid-XIX Century Estuary SST Time Series Recorded in the Venice Lagoon
- 1University of Venice, DAIS, Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica, Mestre (Ve), Italy
- 2Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
- 3Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, List/Sylt, Germany
Sea surface temperature (SST) is of paramount importance for comprehending ocean
dynamics and hence the Earth’s climate system. Accordingly, it is also the most measured
oceanographic parameter. However, until the end of the XIX century, no continuous time series of
SST seem to exist, with most of the available data deriving from measurements on ships. Here,
we present a continuous record of surface water measurements retrieved thrice daily in the Venice lagoon,
in the northeastern part of the Italian peninsula, from June to August 1851 and 1852. To the best of our
knowledge, these data represent the oldest SST time series of the entire world ocean. The
measurements were performed by immersing a Réaumur thermometer a few meters deep in the
lagoon water at 8 a.m., 12 p.m., and 8 p.m. Despite several limitations affecting these data (e.g.,
lacking information regarding the exact water depth where measurements were performed and
instrumental metadata), they are of utmost significance, as they put many decades backward the
date of the development of a fundamental aspect of oceanographic observations. Moreover, the
data were collected close to the Punta della Salute site, where actual sea water temperature
measurements have been performed since 2002. Therefore, a unique comparison between
surface water temperatures within the Lagoon of Venice across three centuries is possible.
How to cite: Rubino, A., Rubinetti, S., and Zanchettin, D.: Mid-XIX Century Estuary SST Time Series Recorded in the Venice Lagoon, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-3265, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-3265, 2023.
