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

分析历史日志中的天气数据以评估不断变化的风和气压模式

• 批准号: 1852647
• 负责人: Caroline Ummenhofer
• 金额: $ 11.01万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2023-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1852647&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Analyzing; Weather; Data; Historic; Logbooks

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.

该研究项目使用美国捕鲸船日志来分析历史天气模式，以了解大约250年来海洋风和压力模式在空间上的变化。由于历史学家与海洋学家合作，扩展了两个世纪的乐器气象记录，并且比目前可用的更广泛的地理分布，该项目将不同的学术子场整合在一起。为了安全性，水手在其图表和天气数据上记录了导航的危险。该项目从历史日志中提取了大量的气象数据，记录了现代科学家无法访问的，并使它们在网上免费获得。研究人员使用这些历史性天气记录来解决有关风和大气压力模式转变的当前问题。其中包括与陆地上亚热带干区以及驱动雨雨天气系统通过的西风风暴轨道相关的高压系统的变化。这些风和大气压力模式中对过去变异性的理解具有社会相关性，因为这些模式直接影响农业生产力，并可以改善天气的预测和建模。此外，该研究可以确定对当代运输具有实际好处的天气和导航数据，强调了该项目对现代商业导航和海上防御的重要性。该项目包括培训融合科学的学生。研究结果将通过博物馆的非正式学习机会和跨学科会议上更广泛的科学界提供给公众。长期数据集对气象研究建立了一个基线，以衡量最近的变化，可以验证模型，可以验证模型，可以验证模型，可以验证模型，并照亮了气氛和海洋的相互作用。被分析的历史日志包含系统的天气观测（例如，风强度和方向，风暴，海洋状态，降水，空气温度，大气压），可显着延长工具记录。新近恢复的历史数据与现有的观察和重新分析产品相结合，以了解过去大约250年的地球大气循环中变化的稳健性和长期背景。调查人员特别考虑：（a）与亚热带干区扩张有关的哈德利循环的变化，例如在美国西南部； （b）亚热带高压系统的强度和位置的变化是哈德利细胞循环下降的肢体的表现，以及南半球西风的强度和位置的变化，捕鲸者在进入历史捕鲸场的途中遍历了捕鲸者并且最近经历了极力的极点变化。了解亚热带高压系统和西北风暴轨迹的长期变异性与受到这种气象模式影响的任何地区有关。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子的评估和更广泛的影响的评估来支持的。标准。