Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Interdisciplinary Climate: The Case of the First 50 Years of British Observations in Australia

Kendal McGuffie School of Physics and Advanced Materials, University of Technology Sydney, and Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Ann Henderson-Sellers School of Physics and Advanced Materials, University of Technology Sydney, and Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Print Publication:
01 Apr 2012
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-12-00005.1
Page(s):
118–131
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Abstract

This paper presents the case for improved interdisciplinarity in climate research in the context of assessing and discussing the caution required when utilizing some types of historical climate data. This is done by a case study examining the reliability of the instruments used for collecting weather data in Australia between 1788 and 1840, as well as the observers themselves, during the British settlement of New South Wales. This period is challenging because the instruments were not uniformly calibrated and were created, repaired, and used by a wide variety of people with skills that frequently remain undocumented. Continuing significant efforts to rescue such early instrumental records of climate are likely to be enhanced by more open, interdisciplinary research that encourages discussion of an apparent dichotomy of view about the quantitative value of early single-instrument data between historians of physics (including museum curators) and climate researchers.

Corresponding author address: A. Henderson-Sellers, Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. E-mail: ann.henderson-sellers@mq.edu.au

Abstract

This paper presents the case for improved interdisciplinarity in climate research in the context of assessing and discussing the caution required when utilizing some types of historical climate data. This is done by a case study examining the reliability of the instruments used for collecting weather data in Australia between 1788 and 1840, as well as the observers themselves, during the British settlement of New South Wales. This period is challenging because the instruments were not uniformly calibrated and were created, repaired, and used by a wide variety of people with skills that frequently remain undocumented. Continuing significant efforts to rescue such early instrumental records of climate are likely to be enhanced by more open, interdisciplinary research that encourages discussion of an apparent dichotomy of view about the quantitative value of early single-instrument data between historians of physics (including museum curators) and climate researchers.

Corresponding author address: A. Henderson-Sellers, Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. E-mail: ann.henderson-sellers@mq.edu.au
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