EGU25-13448, updated on 15 Mar 2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13448
EGU General Assembly 2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Nineteenth century maritime weather data from historical New England whaling ship voyages (1820-1890)
Caroline Ummenhofer1, Neele Sander1,2, Tessa Giacoppo1,3, Finn Wimberly1, Bastian Muench1,4, and Timothy Walker1,5
Caroline Ummenhofer et al.
  • 1Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole, United States of America (cummenhofer@whoi.edu)
  • 2Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel and GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany
  • 3Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
  • 4Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
  • 5Department of History, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, MA, USA

Maritime weather data contained in ship logbooks are used to assess historical changes in global surface wind and precipitation patterns since the early 19th century. We focus on unexploited caches of archival documentation, namely U.S. whaling logbooks of voyages spanning the period 1820 to 1890 from New England archives housed by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Nantucket Historical Association, and Providence Public Library. The logbooks, often covering multi-year voyages around the globe, contain systematic weather observations (e.g., wind strength/direction, sea state, precipitation, cloudiness) at (sub-)daily temporal resolution. The qualitative, descriptive wind and precipitation recordings by the whalers are quantified and compared with reanalysis products where applicable.

Following extensive quality control, we find overall good agreement in wind strength and direction for the whaling logbook wind records with reanalysis products for mean and seasonal climatologies around the world. Interannual variations in North Atlantic wind fields associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation or changes in characteristics of the Azores High subtropical pressure system are also captured by the whaling ship recordings. Predominant precipitation patterns around the world oceans can be captured and variations across a range of timescales are assessed.

Our results demonstrate that the historical records provide an important long-term context for changing maritime wind and rainfall patterns in remote ocean regions lacking observational records during the 19th century. Challenges and opportunities for data rescue and digitization of maritime weather records in these under-utilized historical ship logbooks for climate purposes will be discussed.

How to cite: Ummenhofer, C., Sander, N., Giacoppo, T., Wimberly, F., Muench, B., and Walker, T.: Nineteenth century maritime weather data from historical New England whaling ship voyages (1820-1890), EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13448, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13448, 2025.