Category Archives: History of Science

How To Find A Planet

Posted on 1 February, 2022 by danaallen

By Jochen Broecker To make this clear straight away: this entry will only marginally touch upon weather and climate, but it will not be entirely unrelated altogether. Since you are reading this blog you must be interested in the natural sciences … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Climate, History of Science | Leave a comment

Three Flavours of Pykrete

Posted on 28 June, 2021 by danaallen

By: David Livings Three Flavours of Pykrete A few years ago, Giles Foden published a novel called Turbulence. Most of the book is about a young meteorologist in the second world war, but there’s a framing story set in the 1980s, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Cryosphere, History of Science | Leave a comment

Putting a 120-Year-Old Barograph To The Test

Posted on 1 March, 2021 by danaallen

By: Kieran Hunt Cast your mind back to 1900. The World’s Fair. Great Britain has just won 48 medals at the Summer Olympics including a clean sweep in the steeplechase. Queen Victoria’s reign continues through an unprecedented 63rd year. British … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, History of Science, Measurements and instrumentation | Leave a comment

Atmospheric diffusion: when anomalous is normal

Posted on 11 February, 2019 by danaallen

By: Omduth Coceal Our long-term health and quality of life depends on the purity of the air we breathe. It is therefore difficult to overstate the importance of understanding and predicting the dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere. Both observations … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Science | Leave a comment

When Did Fronts First Appear in the Met Office’s Daily Weather Report?

Posted on 9 May, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By David Livings One of the good things that can now be found on the web is a complete series of the Met Office’s Daily Weather Report going back to 1860. An overview of the early history of the report … Continue reading →

Posted in Historical climatology, History of Science | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The History of Climate Change Science

Posted on 22 February, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Peter Cook Many people believe that anthropogenic global warming was only discovered in the 1980s and before this most scientists thought that the climate was getting colder. However, the science actually goes back almost two centuries. Joseph Fourier (in … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, History of Science | Leave a comment

Historical storms – a (very brief) book review

Posted on 23 February, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Ben Harvey                         Department of Meteorology It has now been a year since the period of extreme storminess experienced in the UK during January and February 2014. High winds … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Environmental hazards, extratropical cyclones, History of Science | Tagged | Leave a comment

A Meteorological Postcard from Bergen, Norway

Posted on 29 September, 2014 by Stephen Burt

By Jon Shonk Thursday 25 September 2014 I am currently looking out of my office window at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Bergen (Figure 1), watching the rain fall steadily past the window from a grey sky. Dark … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, History of Science | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The wider legacy of Sir Robert Watson-Watt

Posted on 15 September, 2014 by Stephen Burt

By Chris Scott While lecturing in Dundee recently, I took the opportunity of visiting Pitlochry to pay my respects (Figure 1) to Sir Robert Watson-Watt, the inventor of RADAR recently profiled in the BBC drama ‘Castles in the Sky’. While … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Science, radar, Space | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Routine climate data – going, going, gone?

Posted on 26 May, 2014 by Stephen Burt

by Chris Holloway I was surprised to hear recently that the US Department of Energy (DOE) is closing all three of their Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) sites within the next year.  These well-instrumented sites, located at … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, History of Science, Measurements and instrumentation | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment