A new meteorological record for Cádiz (Spain) 1806–1852: Implications for climatic reconstructions

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres Vol. 112; no. D12; pp. D12108 - n/a
• Main Authors: Gallego, David, Garcia-Herrera, Ricardo, Calvo, Natalia, Ribera, Pedro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Geophysical Union 27-06-2007; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Atmospheric Processes; Climate change and variability; climate reconstruction; Climate variability; climatic change; Climatology; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Global Change; historical climatology; Instruments and techniques; Paleoclimatology; Iberian Peninsula; Southern Europe; Cadiz Spain; Spain; Spain, Andalucia, Cadiz; climatic change; historical climatology; climate reconstruction; Climatology; Atmospheric temperature; Winter; interpretation; winds; Europe; Bias; warming; Summer; Gust; atmospheric pressure
• ISSN: 0148-0227; 2156-2202
• DOI: 10.1029/2007JD008517

A new documentary source of data for wind, atmospheric pressure and air temperature for the city of Cádiz (southern Spain) has been ed, analyzed and compared with present‐day data. Wind records cover the period 1806–1852 with three observations per day. Instrumental pressure and temperature cover the period 1825–1852. While the historical pressure series shows average values very close to that found for the period 1971–2000, temperature shows a large asymmetric seasonal warming, with increments in the order of 2°C for the winter months and almost no change for summer. Wind measurements have been transformed into their numerical equivalents and then compared with present‐day values. The analysis shows that the numerical estimation of ancient wind forces observed at Cádiz, while providing a robust climatic signal, has a strong bias to larger values than their instrumental equivalents. Despite the uncertainties involved in the interpretation of early wind series, this effect could be related to the recording of “average wind gusts” rather than average winds as measured by today's anemometers. In consequence, wind climatologies based on historical data, which recently are becoming available to the scientific community, should be used carefully.