Weather and climate in southwestern Greenland and coastal Labrador, based on Moravian missionary records, 1790s–1881

The Moravian Brethren began making meteorological observations in the Arctic in 1767 in SW Greenland (Neu-Herrnhut) and later in 1771 on the coast of Labrador (Nain). They continued to make observations in these two areas until the outbreak of World War II. Data preserved to date mostly covers the period from the beginning of measurements to the early 1790s, and from the first International Polar Year (1882/1883) to the early 20th century. Raw measurement data are available for these periods, typically for a few measurements per day. We have recently compiled and published these data. The purpose of this presentation is to inventory and digitise all other existing data for the period 1790s-1881. Usually, they are available as daily, monthly, seasonal, or annual averages. This period, the least documented, was called by Demarée and Ogilvie (2008) as the second period in which meteorological observations were conducted by the Moravian Brethren. Meteorological data are available in archives, in scientific papers published in 19th-century scientific journals, and in missionary journals. The most significant collection of data, covering the years 1840s–1870s, was compiled by the German astronomer Johann Lamont. It is available in manuscript form under the titles "Grönland file" and "Labrador file," Archiv Lehrstuhl für Ökologie, TU München. Unfortunately, it has not yet been made available to researchers. Based on the collected data, the climate in Greenland and coastal Labrador will be reconstructed for the study period.

  (The work was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland, project No. 2020/39/B/ST10/00653).

Reference: Demarée, G. R. and Ogilvie, A. E. J.: The Moravian missionaries at the Labrador coast and their centuries-long contribution to instrumental meteorological observations, Climatic Change, 91, 423–450, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-008-9420-2, 2008.