In an exciting endeavor bringing together the fields of maritime history and climate science, the eWHALES project extracts weather data from ship logbooks of historical 19th century New England whaling voyages. The project is a collaboration between oceanographer Caroline
Ummenhofer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and historian Timothy Walker at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. It aims to address contemporary questions related toshifting winds over the world’s oceans and how those relate to changes in weather and extreme events.
New England archives house thousands of unexploited 19 th century ship logbooks that contain a wealth of weather recordings: The logbooks, often covering multi-year voyages to some of the most remote waters around the globe, contain systematic daily weather observations, such as rainfall, wind strength and direction. To date the project extracted ~150,000 daily weather entries from more than 225 logbooks housed at Providence Public Library, New Bedford Whaling Museum, Nantucket Historical Association, Martha’s Vineyard Museum, and Falmouth Historical Society. Our results demonstrate that the historical records provide an important long-term context for changing wind and weather patterns over the world’s oceans lacking observational records during the 18 th -19 th centuries. Challenges and opportunities for climate research through data rescue and digitization of these under-utilized historical ship logbooks will be discussed.
Admission: $10 per person / $5 for members
Must be 21+ to sample beer; IDs will be checked at the door.
Enjoy craft beer from our sponsor, Cape Cod Beer, along with cheese, crackers, water, and non-alcoholic beer options.
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Please Note: History on Tap features a different speaker every two weeks. Be sure to double-check the date before booking your ticket to ensure you’re registering for the lecture you want. If you have any issues, 508-815-4149 to book directly.
