Scientific Data (Jun 2023)
DOCU-CLIM: A global documentary climate dataset for climate reconstructions
- Angela-Maria Burgdorf,
- Stefan Brönnimann,
- George Adamson,
- Tatsuya Amano,
- Yasuyuki Aono,
- David Barriopedro,
- Teresa Bullón,
- Chantal Camenisch,
- Dario Camuffo,
- Valérie Daux,
- María del Rosario Prieto,
- Petr Dobrovolný,
- David Gallego,
- Ricardo García-Herrera,
- Joelle Gergis,
- Stefan Grab,
- Matthew J. Hannaford,
- Jari Holopainen,
- Clare Kelso,
- Zoltán Kern,
- Andrea Kiss,
- Elaine Kuan-Hui Lin,
- Neil J. Loader,
- Martin Možný,
- David Nash,
- Sharon E. Nicholson,
- Christian Pfister,
- Fernando S. Rodrigo,
- This Rutishauser,
- Sapna Sharma,
- Katalin Takács,
- Ernesto T. Vargas,
- Inmaculada Vega
Affiliations
- Angela-Maria Burgdorf
- Institute of Geography, University of Bern
- Stefan Brönnimann
- Institute of Geography, University of Bern
- George Adamson
- Department of Geography, King’s College London
- Tatsuya Amano
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland
- Yasuyuki Aono
- Graduate School of Agriculture, Osaka Metropolitan University
- David Barriopedro
- Instituto de Geociencias (IGEO), CSIC-UCM
- Teresa Bullón
- Department of Geography, Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM)
- Chantal Camenisch
- Institute of Geography, University of Bern
- Dario Camuffo
- National Research Council-Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate
- Valérie Daux
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, CNRS, CEA, UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay
- María del Rosario Prieto
- Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA-CONICET)
- Petr Dobrovolný
- Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University
- David Gallego
- Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide
- Ricardo García-Herrera
- Departamento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense
- Joelle Gergis
- Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University
- Stefan Grab
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
- Matthew J. Hannaford
- Department of Geography, College of Science, University of Lincoln
- Jari Holopainen
- Natural Resources Institute Finland
- Clare Kelso
- Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg
- Zoltán Kern
- Institute for Geological and Geochemical Research, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences
- Andrea Kiss
- Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology
- Elaine Kuan-Hui Lin
- Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica
- Neil J. Loader
- Department of Geography, Swansea University
- Martin Možný
- Department of Biometeorological Applications, Czech Hydrometeorological Institute
- David Nash
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
- Sharon E. Nicholson
- Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University
- Christian Pfister
- Institute of Geography, University of Bern
- Fernando S. Rodrigo
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, University of Almería
- This Rutishauser
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern
- Sapna Sharma
- Department of Biology, York University
- Katalin Takács
- Institute for Soil Sciences (TAKI) and Centre for Agricultural Research (ATK)
- Ernesto T. Vargas
- National Museum of Natural Sciences-Spanish Research Council
- Inmaculada Vega
- Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02303-y
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 10,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 14
Abstract
Abstract Documentary climate data describe evidence of past climate arising from predominantly written historical documents such as diaries, chronicles, newspapers, or logbooks. Over the past decades, historians and climatologists have generated numerous document-based time series of local and regional climates. However, a global dataset of documentary climate time series has never been compiled, and documentary data are rarely used in large-scale climate reconstructions. Here, we present the first global multi-variable collection of documentary climate records. The dataset DOCU-CLIM comprises 621 time series (both published and hitherto unpublished) providing information on historical variations in temperature, precipitation, and wind regime. The series are evaluated by formulating proxy forward models (i.e., predicting the documentary observations from climate fields) in an overlapping period. Results show strong correlations, particularly for the temperature-sensitive series. Correlations are somewhat lower for precipitation-sensitive series. Overall, we ascribe considerable potential to documentary records as climate data, especially in regions and seasons not well represented by early instrumental data and palaeoclimate proxies.
