Captrian Cook and the warminists

As Data sets go the records kept by British navel officers may not be perfect but as this article shows they can be very useful and as the passage I have highlighted shows, quite problematic for those true believers in the Warminist faith…

James Cook logs shed light on global climate

METICULOUSLY kept logbooks of Captain James Cook’s Endeavour are to be analysed by researchers studying modern climate change.

Thousands of Royal Navy records that have survived from the 17th century, ranging from Nelson’s Victory and the Endeavour down to the humblest frigate, have emerged as one of the world’s best sources for long-term weather data.

The discovery has been made by a group of British academics and Meteorological Office scientists who were seeking new ways to plot historic changes in the climate.

“This is a treasure trove,” said Sam Willis, a maritime historian and author who is affiliated with Exeter University’s Centre for Maritime Historical Studies.

“Ships’ officers recorded air pressure, wind strength, air and sea temperature, and other weather conditions,” Dr Willis said. “From those records scientists can build a detailed picture of past weather and climate.”

A preliminary study of 6000 logbooks has produced results that raise questions about climate change theories.

One paper, published by Dennis Wheeler, a Sunderland University geographer, in the journal The Holocene, details a surge in the frequency of summer storms over Britain in the 1680s and 1690s.

Many scientists believe storms are a consequence of global warming, but these were the coldest decades of the Little Ice Age that hit Europe from about 1600 to 1850.

Dr Wheeler and his colleagues have since won European Union funding to extend the research to 1750. This shows that during the 1730s, Europe underwent a period of rapid warming similar to that recorded recently – and which must have had natural origins.

Cheers comrades