Research
The objective: Improving climate forecasting through reanalysis
The more historic data we have on weather, the better models we can build to forecast and anticipate future climate change and respond effectively. The aim of this project is to recover ‘lost-to-science’ marine weather data recorded in ship logbooks from the mid-19th century (approx. 1860 – 1879).
These data, extracted from thousands of naval and merchant marine logbooks, are now used to drive sophisticated computer models that help us understand weather and climate in extraordinary detail. Using a technique called 'retrospective analysis' (reanalysis) every single weather and ocean observation ever made can be compiled, evaluated, and applied in its proper time and place. Reanalysis runs on historical data. Every observation you add is a meaningful contribution toward better weather and climate forecasting.
The data: Naval and merchant ship logbooks
Oceans make up more than 70% of the Earth’s surface and are integral to the climate system. Prior to the satellite era, our only ocean knowledge was from ship logbooks and personal accounts. Ship logbooks have always been valued as guides for navigation. By the mid-19th century they were also used to record environmental data needed for the construction of ocean climate charts, pilot and track charts, and sailing directions. The value of faster and safer voyages was estimated in the millions of dollars and uncounted lives. For this reason, thousands of logbooks collected over the centuries were preserved in archives around the world. However, most of the weather data are still trapped in the pages of logbooks, preserved but unopened despite the climate emergency. In this format, the data are inaccessible to science. Until now.
The Weather Rescue EY project focuses on digitizing ship officers’ handwritten hourly weather observations of temperatures and atmospheric pressure from U.S. naval vessels, like those shown in the banner above, that sailed the world ocean between 1860 and 1879. With your help, weather data gaps will be filled and climate science advanced.
The science
Reanalysis is one of the most important and widely used tools in climatology, as are the fundamental historical datasets that they run on. This is reflected in the fact that these research data products are among the most cited climate-related resources in the world. The data recovered by Weather Rescue EY will dramatically improve the quality and performance of reanalysis and other underlying data products. To learn more, see Results above.
Note: This project uses primary source documents. Many have not been examined in detail since the day they were written 150 years ago. While the language used in a ship's logbook tends toward formally dispassionate, you will encounter challenging content touching on armed conflict, slavery, and racism.
The digital images used in this project were obtained through a collaboration between the U.S. National Archives, the National Archives Foundation, the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the University of Washington Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean & Ecosystem Studies. Major support was provided through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.