Improved Understanding of Past Climatic Variability from Early Daily European Instrumental Sources

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. Improved Understanding of Past Climatic Variability from Early Daily European Instrumental Sources

   1. Improved Understanding of Past Climatic Variability from Early Daily European Instrumental Sources

      • Dario Camuffo, Phil Jones

      Pages 1-4

3. History and Correction of Long Temperature Series

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-5

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   2. History of the Long Series of Daily Air Temperature in Padova (1725–1998)

      • Dario Camuffo

      Pages 7-75

   3. Corrections of Systematic Errors and Data Homogenisation in the Daily Temperature Padova Series (1725–1998)

      • Claudio Cocheo, Dario Camuffo

      Pages 77-100

   4. Daily Milan Temperature and Pressure Series (1763–1998): History of the Observations and Data and Metadata Recovery

      • Maurizio Maugeri, Letizia Buffoni, Franca Chlistovsky

      Pages 101-117

   5. Daily Milan Temperature and Pressure Series (1763–1998): Completing and Homogenising the Data

      • Maurizio Maugeri, Letizia Buffoni, Barbara Delmonte, Adriana Fassina

      Pages 119-149

   6. Daily Meteorological Observations in Cadiz — San Fernando. Analysis of the Documentary Sources and the Instrumental Data Content (1786–1996)

      • Mariano Barriendos, Javier Martín-Vide, Juan Carlos Peña, Roberto Rodríguez

      Pages 151-170

   7. Daily Air Temperature and Pressure Series for Stockholm (1756–1998)

      • Anders Moberg, Hans Bergström, Josefin Ruiz Krigsman, Ola Svanered

      Pages 171-212

   8. Daily Air Temperature and Pressure Series for Uppsala (1722–1998)

      • Hans Bergström, Anders Moberg

      Pages 213-252

   9. The Daily Temperature Record for St. Petersburg (1743–1996)

      • P. D. Jones, D. H. Lister

      Pages 253-267

   10. The Long-Term Daily Central Belgium Temperature (CBT) Series (1767–1998) and Early Instrumental Meteorological Observations in Belgium

       • G. R. Demaréee, P. -J. Lachaert, T. Verhoeve, E. Thoen

       Pages 269-293

4. Typical Problems with Early Thermometers and Measuring Times

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 295-295

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   2. Calibration and Instrumental Errors in Early Measurements of Air Temperature

      • Dario Camuffo

      Pages 297-329

   3. Errors in Early Temperature Series Arising from Changes in Style of Measuring Time, Sampling Schedule and Number of Observations

      • Dario Camuffo

      Pages 331-352

5. Trends in Extreme Temperatures

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 353-353

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   2. Trends of Extreme Temperatures in Europe and China Based on Daily Observations

      • Z. Yan, P. D. Jones, T. D. Davies, A. Moberg, H. Bergström, D. Camuffo et al.

      Pages 355-392

Climate can be defined as an ensemble of many weather phenomena. Clima­ tologists often use the mean (conventionally the monthly and annual mean) of weather-related parameters to describe climate. The mean value, however, is not all the climate. Climatic changes might occur if certain aspects of the distribution of extreme values change, while the mean does not. Katz and Brown (1992), for example, show from a theoretical viewpoint that in a changing climate, extreme values are determined more by changes in variability than changes in the mean. Possible changes in extreme event frequency receive considerable attention along with the global warming, because extremes directly impact human society and the economy. For most societally sensitive extremes and related changes in their vari­ ability, an analysis based on daily data becomes necessary. This paper considers two aspects (relative and absolute values) of extreme temperatures on a daily basis. We do not consider spells of extreme days, periods which will likely have greater socio-economic and health impacts (Kalkstein et al., 1996; Wagner, 1999), than individual extreme days.

• climate
• climate change
• climate variability
• environment
• temperature

• Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, National Research Council, Padova, Italy

  Dario Camuffo

• Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

  Phil Jones

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