Articles | Volume 22, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-957-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-957-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
08 May 2026
Research article |
| 08 May 2026
| 08 May 2026
Newly recovered series of meteorological measurements in SW Greenland (Nuuk) in the period 1806–1813
Rajmund Przybylak
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Centre for Climate Change Research, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Andrzej Araźny
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Centre for Climate Change Research, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Przemysław Wyszyński
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Centre for Climate Change Research, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Garima Singh
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Konrad Chmist
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Related authors
Rajmund Przybylak, Piotr Oliński, Marcin Koprowski, Waldemar Chorążyczewski, Elżbieta Szychowska-Krąpiec, Marek Krąpiec, and Aleksandra Pospieszyńska
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1172, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1172, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
The paper provides an updated analysis of Poland's climate, focusing on the 16th century using a multiproxy approach (documentary evidence and dendrochronological data). Newly gathered historical sources and dendrochronological data helped reconstruct five updated mean air temperature series: decadal winter and summer means from documentary evidence, and annual means for winter and late winter–early spring derived from dendrochronological data.
Peter Stucki, Stefan Brönnimann, Noemi Imfeld, Lucas Pfister, Conall E. Ruth, Yannis V. Schmutz, Yuri Brugnara, Martin Wegmann, Rajmund Przybylak, and Janusz Filipiak
Clim. Past, 22, 517–540, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-517-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-517-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
We test nine reconstructions of Europe’s hot summer of 1807, using weather records, reanalyses, machine-learning (ML), and data assimilation. Most approaches match observed temperature and pressure well. Approaches based on physics of atmospheric flow capture weather patterns well, while ML approaches better reflect station records. Ingestion of accurate records from new regions improves the reconstructions markedly. In all, the approaches provide new insights to pre-industrial extreme weather.
Rajmund Przybylak, Aleksandra Pospieszyńska, and Piotr Oliński
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6326, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6326, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
The article presents: (i) a description of a newly discovered series of meteorological measurements (air temperature, atmospheric precipitation and pressure, humidity, wind direction and force) made in Wrocław (SW Poland) in 1773–81, and (ii) a comprehensive analysis of air temperature. This unique series, quality-controlled and verified against the nearest series of data (Prague and Berlin), extends the regular temperature series for Wrocław back to 1773 (it having previously begun at 1791).
Konrad Chmist, Garima Singh, Andrzej Araźny, Rajmund Przybylak, and Przemysław Wyszyński
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5657, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5657, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The currently observed climate changes are most intense in the Arctic region. This study utilized some of the oldest existing meteorological measurement series in this region. Atmospheric pressure and anemological conditions were analysed and then compared with contemporary measurements. This showed that the weakest low and strongest high systems occur in the same months. Prevailing wind directions have also remained unchanged, while the northerly wind carries less frigid air than in the past.
Rajmund Przybylak, Andrzej Araźny, Janusz Filipiak, Piotr Oliński, Przemysław Wyszyński, and Artur Szwaba
Clim. Past, 21, 1501–1519, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1501-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1501-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A comprehensive database of strong winds up until AD 1600 was created based on documentary evidence for the area within the modern-day borders of Poland. Three types of documentary sources were used: handwritten and unpublished, published, and “secondary” literature. The database contains detailed information about occurrences of strong wind (the location, time, duration and indexation for intensity, extent and character of damage) and the exact textual content of the original weather note.
Garima Singh, Rajmund Przybylak, Przemysław Wyszyński, Andrzej Araźny, and Konrad Chmist
Clim. Past, 21, 877–895, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-877-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-877-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study aims to determine the nature of the climate in Labrador in historical times (late 18th century), which is crucial to understanding past climate changes in the Arctic and their causes. It is equally important to estimate the range of natural climate variability, which can help in correctly recognizing the causes of present and future climate changes – especially the influence of humans on climate. The analysis shows a significant warming from historical to present times.
Rajmund Przybylak, Garima Singh, Przemysław Wyszyński, Andrzej Araźny, and Konrad Chmist
Clim. Past, 20, 1451–1470, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1451-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1451-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The purpose of this study is to recognise the nature of the climate in historical times (second half of 18th century) in Greenland. Such knowledge is important for validating Greenland temperature reconstructions based on both modelling works and various proxies. The two unique series of old meteorological observations from Greenland we used indicated that temperature in the study period was comparable to that of the early 20th-century Arctic warming but lower than that of the present day.
Rajmund Przybylak, Piotr Oliński, Marcin Koprowski, Elżbieta Szychowska-Krąpiec, Marek Krąpiec, Aleksandra Pospieszyńska, and Radosław Puchałka
Clim. Past, 19, 2389–2408, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2389-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2389-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The present paper upgrades our knowledge of Poland’s climate in the period 1001–1500 using multiproxy data. Four new climate reconstructions have been constructed – three based on dendrochronological data (since the 12th century) and one on documentary evidence (since the 15th century). The results should help improve the knowledge of climate change in Europe, particularly in central Europe.
Duncan Pappert, Mariano Barriendos, Yuri Brugnara, Noemi Imfeld, Sylvie Jourdain, Rajmund Przybylak, Christian Rohr, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 18, 2545–2565, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2545-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2545-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present daily temperature and sea level pressure fields for Europe for the severe winter 1788/1789 based on historical meteorological measurements and an analogue reconstruction approach. The resulting reconstruction skilfully reproduces temperature and pressure variations over central and western Europe. We find intense blocking systems over northern Europe and several abrupt, strong cold air outbreaks, demonstrating that quantitative weather reconstruction of past extremes is possible.
Duncan Pappert, Yuri Brugnara, Sylvie Jourdain, Aleksandra Pospieszyńska, Rajmund Przybylak, Christian Rohr, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 17, 2361–2379, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2361-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2361-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents temperature and pressure measurements from the 37 stations of the late 18th century network of the Societas Meteorologica Palatina, in addition to providing an inventory of the available observations, most of which have been digitised. The quality of the recovered series is relatively good, as demonstrated by two case studies. Early instrumental data such as these will help to explore past climate and weather extremes in Europe in greater detail.
Rajmund Przybylak, Piotr Oliński, Marcin Koprowski, Waldemar Chorążyczewski, Elżbieta Szychowska-Krąpiec, Marek Krąpiec, and Aleksandra Pospieszyńska
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1172, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1172, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
The paper provides an updated analysis of Poland's climate, focusing on the 16th century using a multiproxy approach (documentary evidence and dendrochronological data). Newly gathered historical sources and dendrochronological data helped reconstruct five updated mean air temperature series: decadal winter and summer means from documentary evidence, and annual means for winter and late winter–early spring derived from dendrochronological data.
Peter Stucki, Stefan Brönnimann, Noemi Imfeld, Lucas Pfister, Conall E. Ruth, Yannis V. Schmutz, Yuri Brugnara, Martin Wegmann, Rajmund Przybylak, and Janusz Filipiak
Clim. Past, 22, 517–540, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-517-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-517-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
We test nine reconstructions of Europe’s hot summer of 1807, using weather records, reanalyses, machine-learning (ML), and data assimilation. Most approaches match observed temperature and pressure well. Approaches based on physics of atmospheric flow capture weather patterns well, while ML approaches better reflect station records. Ingestion of accurate records from new regions improves the reconstructions markedly. In all, the approaches provide new insights to pre-industrial extreme weather.
Rajmund Przybylak, Aleksandra Pospieszyńska, and Piotr Oliński
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6326, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6326, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
The article presents: (i) a description of a newly discovered series of meteorological measurements (air temperature, atmospheric precipitation and pressure, humidity, wind direction and force) made in Wrocław (SW Poland) in 1773–81, and (ii) a comprehensive analysis of air temperature. This unique series, quality-controlled and verified against the nearest series of data (Prague and Berlin), extends the regular temperature series for Wrocław back to 1773 (it having previously begun at 1791).
Konrad Chmist, Garima Singh, Andrzej Araźny, Rajmund Przybylak, and Przemysław Wyszyński
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5657, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5657, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The currently observed climate changes are most intense in the Arctic region. This study utilized some of the oldest existing meteorological measurement series in this region. Atmospheric pressure and anemological conditions were analysed and then compared with contemporary measurements. This showed that the weakest low and strongest high systems occur in the same months. Prevailing wind directions have also remained unchanged, while the northerly wind carries less frigid air than in the past.
Rajmund Przybylak, Andrzej Araźny, Janusz Filipiak, Piotr Oliński, Przemysław Wyszyński, and Artur Szwaba
Clim. Past, 21, 1501–1519, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1501-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1501-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A comprehensive database of strong winds up until AD 1600 was created based on documentary evidence for the area within the modern-day borders of Poland. Three types of documentary sources were used: handwritten and unpublished, published, and “secondary” literature. The database contains detailed information about occurrences of strong wind (the location, time, duration and indexation for intensity, extent and character of damage) and the exact textual content of the original weather note.
Garima Singh, Rajmund Przybylak, Przemysław Wyszyński, Andrzej Araźny, and Konrad Chmist
Clim. Past, 21, 877–895, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-877-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-877-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study aims to determine the nature of the climate in Labrador in historical times (late 18th century), which is crucial to understanding past climate changes in the Arctic and their causes. It is equally important to estimate the range of natural climate variability, which can help in correctly recognizing the causes of present and future climate changes – especially the influence of humans on climate. The analysis shows a significant warming from historical to present times.
Rajmund Przybylak, Garima Singh, Przemysław Wyszyński, Andrzej Araźny, and Konrad Chmist
Clim. Past, 20, 1451–1470, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1451-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1451-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The purpose of this study is to recognise the nature of the climate in historical times (second half of 18th century) in Greenland. Such knowledge is important for validating Greenland temperature reconstructions based on both modelling works and various proxies. The two unique series of old meteorological observations from Greenland we used indicated that temperature in the study period was comparable to that of the early 20th-century Arctic warming but lower than that of the present day.
Rajmund Przybylak, Piotr Oliński, Marcin Koprowski, Elżbieta Szychowska-Krąpiec, Marek Krąpiec, Aleksandra Pospieszyńska, and Radosław Puchałka
Clim. Past, 19, 2389–2408, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2389-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2389-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The present paper upgrades our knowledge of Poland’s climate in the period 1001–1500 using multiproxy data. Four new climate reconstructions have been constructed – three based on dendrochronological data (since the 12th century) and one on documentary evidence (since the 15th century). The results should help improve the knowledge of climate change in Europe, particularly in central Europe.
Duncan Pappert, Mariano Barriendos, Yuri Brugnara, Noemi Imfeld, Sylvie Jourdain, Rajmund Przybylak, Christian Rohr, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 18, 2545–2565, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2545-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2545-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present daily temperature and sea level pressure fields for Europe for the severe winter 1788/1789 based on historical meteorological measurements and an analogue reconstruction approach. The resulting reconstruction skilfully reproduces temperature and pressure variations over central and western Europe. We find intense blocking systems over northern Europe and several abrupt, strong cold air outbreaks, demonstrating that quantitative weather reconstruction of past extremes is possible.
Duncan Pappert, Yuri Brugnara, Sylvie Jourdain, Aleksandra Pospieszyńska, Rajmund Przybylak, Christian Rohr, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 17, 2361–2379, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2361-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2361-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents temperature and pressure measurements from the 37 stations of the late 18th century network of the Societas Meteorologica Palatina, in addition to providing an inventory of the available observations, most of which have been digitised. The quality of the recovered series is relatively good, as demonstrated by two case studies. Early instrumental data such as these will help to explore past climate and weather extremes in Europe in greater detail.
Cited articles
Aguilar, E., Auer, I., Brunet, N., Peterson, T. C., and Wieringa, J.: Guidelines on climate metadata and homogenization, WMO/TD No. 1186, pp. 50, 2003.
Axford, Y., Losee, S., Briner, J. P., Francis, D. R., Langdon, P. G., and Walker, I. R.: Holocene temperature history at the western Greenland Ice Sheet margin reconstructed from lake sediments, Quat. Sci. Rev., 59, 87–100, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.10.024, 2013.
Baranowski, S.: Thermals of the periglacial tundra SW Spitsbergen, Acta Univ. Wratislaviensis, 68, Studia Geograficzne X, Wrocław, Poland, 1968 (in Polish).
Borm, J., Kodzik, J., and Charbit, S.: Producing and communicating natural history in the long 18th century: Moravian observations concerning Greenland's climate in unpublished sources, Polar Rec., 57, 1–10, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247421000218, 2021.
Box, J. E.: Survey of Greenland instrumental temperature records: 1873–2001, Int. J. Climatol., 22, 1829–1847, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.852, 2002.
Brázdil, R., Pfister, C., Wanner, H., von Storch, H., and Luterbacher, J.: Historical climatology in Europe – the state of the art, Clim. Change, 70, 363–430, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-005-5924-1, 2005.
Brohan, P., Ward, C., Willetts, G., Wilkinson, C., Allan, R., and Wheeler, D.: Arctic marine climate of the early nineteenth century, Clim. Past, 6, 315–324, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-315-2010, 2010.
Brönnimann, S., Allan, R., Ashcroft, L., Baer, S., Barriendos, M., Brázdil, R., Brugnara, Y., Brunet, M., Brunetti, M., Chimani, B., Cornes, R., Domínguez-Castro, F., Filipiak, J., Founda, D., Herrera, R. G., Gergis, J., Grab, S., Hannak, L., Huhtamaa, H., Jacobsen, K. S., Jones, P., Jourdain, S., Kiss, A., Lin, K. E., Lorrey, A., Lundstad, E., Luterbacher, J., Mauelshagen, F., Maugeri, M., Maughan, N., Moberg, A., Neukom, R., Nicholson, S., Noone, S., Nordli, Ø., Ólafsdóttir, K. B., Pearce, P. R., Pfister, L., Pribyl, K., Przybylak, R., Pudmenzky, C., Rasol, D., Reichenbach, D., Řezníčková, L., Rodrigo, F. S., Rohr, C., Skrynyk, O., Slonosky, V., Thorne, P., Valente, M. A., Vaquero, J. M., Westcott, N. E., Williamson, F., and Wyszyński, P.: Unlocking pre-1850 instrumental meteorological records: A global inventory, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 100, ES389–ES413, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0040.1, 2019.
Camuffo, D., Bertolin, C., Barriendos, M., Domínguez-Castro, F., Cocheo, C., Enzi, S., and Sghedoni, M.: A short critical history of the development of meteorology and climatology, Climate, 5, 23, https://doi.org/10.3390/cli14040088, 2017.
Cappelen, J. and Drost Jensen, C.: Climatological Standard Normals 1991–2020 – Greenland, DMI Report 21-12, Danish Meteorological Institute, 83 pp., https://www.dmi.dk/fileadmin/Rapporter/2021/DMI_report_21_12_Greenland.pdf (last access: 25 August 2025), 2021.
Crespin, E.: Arctic climate variability during the past millennium: combining model simulations and proxy data, PhD thesis, Université catholique de Louvain, http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/150597 (last access: 30 August 2025), 2014.
Crespin, E., Goosse, H., Fichefet, T., Mairesse, A., and Sallaz-Damaz, Y.: Arctic climate over the past millennium: Annual and seasonal responses to external forcings, Holocene, 23, 321–329, https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612463095, 2013.
Demarée, G. R. and Ogilvie, A. E. J.: The Moravian missionaries at the Labrador coast and their centuries-long contribution to instrumental meteorological observations, Clim. Change, 91, 423–450, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-008-9420-2, 2008.
Demarée, G. R. and Ogilvie, A. E. J.: Missionary Activity in Greenland and in Labrador: The Context for Early Meteorological Observations, in: Legacies of David Cranz's `Historie von Grönland' (1765), edited by: Jensz, F. and Petterson, C., Christianities in the Trans-Atlantic World, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63998-3_7, 2021.
Demarée, G. R., Ogilvie, A. E. J., and Mailier, P.: Early meteorological observations in Greenland and Labrador in the 18th century: a contribution of the Moravian Brethren, in: Proc. 35th Int. Symp. on the Okhotsk Sea and Polar Oceans, Mombetsu, Hokkaido, Japan, 35–38, 2020.
Drost Jensen, C. (Ed.): Weather Observations from Greenland 1958–2021, DMI Report 22-08, Danish Meteorological Institute, https://www.dmi.dk/fileadmin/Rapporter/2022/DMIRep22-08.pdf (last access: 20 July 2022), 2022.
Ewert, A.: About calculating thermic continentality of climate, Przegląd Geograficzny, 44, 273–328, 1972 (in Polish).
Ewert, A.: Thermic continentality of the climate of the polar regions, Problemy Klimatologii Polarnej, 7, 55–64, 1997 (in Polish).
Faust, J., Zhang, Y., Born, A., Dobeneck, T., Schultz, H., Janßen, A., Mukherjee, S., Detlef, H., Seidenkrantz, M.-S., Jackson, R., Titschack, J., de Vernal, A., and Kucera, M.: Persistent influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation on Late Holocene hydroclimate in southwestern Greenland, Research Square ISSN 2693-5015, https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7656605/v1, 2025.
Fisher, D. A., Koerner, R. M., Kuiviner, K., Clausen, H. B., Johnsen, S. J., Steffensen, J.-P., Gundestrup, N., and Hammer, C. U.: Inter-comparison of ice core and precipitation records from sites in Canada and Greenland over the last 3500 years and over the last few centuries in detail using EOF techniques, in Climatic Variations and Forcing Mechanisms of the Last 2000 Years, NATO ASI Ser., Ser. I, vol. 41, edited by: Jones, P. D., Bradley, R. S., and Jouzel, J., pp. 297–328, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1996.
Frisinger, H. H.: The History of Meteorology to 1800, New York: Science History Publications, 1977.
Goose, H. and Renssen, H.: Simulating the evolution of the Arctic climate during the last millennium, in: Proceedings Seventh Conference on Polar Meteorology and Oceanography and Joint Symposium on High-Latitude Climate Variations, American Meteorological Society, Hyannis, MA, USA, https://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/60763.pdf (last access: 30 August 2025), 2003.
Hanhijärvi, S., Tingley, M. P., and Korhola, A.: Pairwise comparisons to reconstruct mean temperature in the Arctic Atlantic Region over the last 2000 years, Clim. Dyn., 41, 2039–2060, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-1701-4 , 2013.
Hörhold, M., Münch, T., Weißbach, S., Kipfstuhl, S., Freitag, J., Sasgen, I., Lohmann, G., Vinther, B., and Laepple, T.: Modern temperatures in central–north Greenland warmest in past millennium, Nature, 613, 503–507, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05517-z , 2023.
Jones, P. D. and Mann, M. E.: Climate ove past millennia, Rev. Geophys., 42, RG2002, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003RG000143, 2004.
Jørgensen, G.: Charles Lewis Giesecke, Professor of Mineralogy in Dublin: A Fascinating Character in the Geological History of the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, Irish J. Earth Sci., 15, 155–160, 1996.
Karl, T. R., Knight, R. W., and Plummer, N.: Trends in high-frequency climate variability in the twentieth century, Nature, 377, 217–220, https://doi.org/10.1038/377217a0, 1995.
Kaufman, D. S., Schneider, D. P., McKay, N. P., Ammann, C. M., Bradley, R. S., Briffa, K. R., Miller, G. H., Otto-Bliesner, B. L., Overpeck, J. T., and Vinther, B. M.: Recent warming reverses long-term Arctic cooling, Science, 325, 1236–1239, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1173983, 2009.
Kobashi, T., Severinghaus, J. P., Barnola, J.-M., Kawamura, K., Carter, T., and Nakaegawa, T.: Persistent multi-decadal Greenland temperature fluctuation through the last millennium, Clim. Change, 100, 733–756, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-009-9689-9, 2010.
Kodzik, J.: Moravian Missions in the European Arctic during the Enlightenment: collecting, classifying and communicating knowledge (Greenland, Iceland and Lapland), Arct. Antarct., 13, 55–71, 2019.
Lea, J. M., Mair, D. W. F. Nick, F. M.,. Rea, B. R., Weidick, A., Kjær, K. H., Morlighem, M., Van As, D., and Schofield, J. E.: Terminus-driven retreat of a major southwest Greenland tidewater glacier during the early 19th century: insights from glacier reconstructions and numerical modelling, J. Glaciol., 60, No. 220, https://doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J163, 2014a.
Lea, J. M., Mair, D. W. F., Nick, F. M., Rea, B. R., van As, D., Morlighem, M., Nienow, P. W., and Weidick, A.: Fluctuations of a Greenlandic tidewater glacier driven by changes in atmospheric forcing: observations and modelling of Kangiata Nunaata Sermia, 1859–present, The Cryosphere, 8, 2031–2045, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-2031-2014, 2014b.
Lundstad, E., Brugnara, Y., Pappert, D., Kopp, J., Samakinwa, E., Hürzeler, A., Andersson, A., Chimani, B., Cornes, R., Demarée, G., Filipiak, J., Gates, L., Ives, G. L., Jones, J. M., Jourdain, S., Kiss, A., Nicholson, S. E., Przybylak, R., Jones, P., Rousseau, D., Tinz, B., Rodrigo, F. S., Grab, S., Domínguez-Castro, F., Slonosky, V., Cooper, J., Brunet, M., and Brönnimann, S.: The global historical climate database HCLIM, Sci. Data, 10, 44, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01919-w , 2023.
Luterbacher, J., Xoplaki, E., Dietrich, D., Jones, P. D., Davies, T. D., Portis, D., Gonzalez-Rouco, J. F., von Storch, H., Gyalistras, D., Casty, C., and Wanner, H.: Extending North Atlantic Oscillation Reconstructions Back to 1500, Atmos. Sci. Lett., https://doi.org/10.1006/asle.2001.0044, 2002a.
Luterbacher, J., Xoplaki, E., Dietrich, D., Jones, P. D., Davies, T. D., Portis, D., Gonzalez-Rouco, J. F., von Storch, H., Gyalistras, D., Casty, C., and Wanner, H: North Atlantic Oscillation Reconstruction. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center A for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series #2002-016. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA, https://doi.org/10.25921/9swa-cq22, 2002b.
Lüdecke, C.: East meets West. Meteorological observations of the Moravians in Greenland and Labrador since the 18th century, Hist. Meteorol., 2, 123–132, 2005.
McKay, N. P. and Kaufman, D. S.: An extended Arctic proxy temperature database for the past 2,000 years, Sci. Data, 1, 140026, https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2014.26, 2014.
Meteorologisk Aarbøger (Danish Meteorological Yearbooks): 1874–1957, Det Danske meteorologiske Institut, https://www.dmi.dk/publikationer (last access: 30 August 2025), Kjøbenhavn.
Middleton, W. E. K.: Invention of Meteorological Instruments, 3rd edn. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0801810039, 1969.
Miller, G. H., Brigham-Grette, J., Alley, R. B., Anderson, L., Bauch, H. A., Douglas, M. S. V., Edwards, M. E., Elias, S. A., Finney, B. P., Fitzpatrick, J. J., Funder, S. V., Herbert, T. D., Hinzman, L. D., Kaufman, D. S., MacDonald, G. M., Polyak, L., Robock, A., Serreze, M. C., Smol, J. P., Spielhagen, R., White, J. W. C., Wolfe, A. P., and Wolfe, E. W.: Temperature and precipitation history of the Arctic, Quat. Sci. Rev., 29, 1679–1715, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.03.001, 2010.
Monaghan, N. T.: Sir Karl Ludwig Metzler-Giesecke (1761–1833), royal mineralogist, Greenland explorer and museum curator, in: Centenary of the present edifice of the Geological Museum: deciphering the natural world and the role of collections and museums, edited by: Hoch, E. and Bransten, A. K., Geologisk Museum, København, 83–86, 1993.
Nordli, Ø., Przybylak, R., Ogilvie, A. E. J., and Isaksen, K.: Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: the extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898–2012, Polar Res., 33, 21349, https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v33.21349, 2014.
Nordli, Ø., Wyszyński, P., Gjelten, H. M., Isaksen, K., Łupikasza, E., Niedźwiedź, T., and Przybylak, R.: Revisiting the extended Svalbard Airport monthly temperature series, and the compiled corresponding daily series 1898–2018, Polar Res., 39, 3614, https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v39.3614, 2020.
Overpeck, J., Hughen, K., Hardy, D., Bradley, R., Case, R., Douglas, M., Finney, B., Gajewski, K., Jacoby, G., Jennings, A., Lamoureux, S., Lasca, A., MacDonald, G., Moore, J., Retelle, M., Smith, S., Wolfe, A., and Zielinski, G.: Arctic environmental change of the last four centuries, Science, 278, 1251–1256, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.278.5341.1251, 1997.
Pfister, C., Brázdil, R., Glaser, R., Barriendos, M., Camuffo, D., Deutsch, M., Dobrovolny, P., Enzi, S. V., Guidoboni, E., Kotyza, O., Militzer, S., Rácz, L., and Rodrigo, F. S.: Documentary evidence on climate in sixteenth-century Europe, Clim. Change, 43, 55–110, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9259-8_3, 1999.
Pfister, L., Hupfer, F., Brugnara, Y., Munz, L., Villiger, L., Meyer, L., Schwander, M., Isotta, F. A., Rohr, C., and Brönnimann, S.: Early instrumental meteorological measurements in Switzerland, Clim. Past, 15, 1345–1361, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1345-2019, 2019.
Przybylak, R.: Temporal and spatial variation of air temperature over the period of instrumental observations in the Arctic, Int. J. Climatol., 20, 587–614, https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(200005)20:6<587::AID-JOC480>3.0.CO;2-H, 2000.
Przybylak, R.: Changes in seasonal and annual high-frequency air temperature variability in the Arctic from 1951–1990, Int. J. Climatol., 22, 1017–1032, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.793, 2002.
Przybylak, R.: The Climate of the Arctic, 2nd edn., Springer, Cham, 287 pp., https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21696-6, 2016.
Przybylak, R., Araźny, A., Nordli, Ø., Finkelnburg, R., Kejna, M., Budzik, T., Migała, K., Sikora, S., Puczko, D., Rymer, K., and Rachlewicz, G.: Spatial distribution of air temperature on Svalbard during 1 year with campaign measurements, Int. J. Climatol., 34, 3702–3719, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.3937, 2014.
Przybylak, R., Araźny, A., Wyszyński, P., Singh, G., and Chmist, K.: Air temperature data for Godthåb (now Nuuk) in SW Greenland at the beginning of the 19th century (1st Nov 1806 to 16th August 1813), RepOD [data set], https://doi.org/10.18150/IGYNGV, 2025.
Przybylak, R., Singh, G., Wyszyński, P., Araźny, A., and Chmist, K.: Air temperature changes in SW Greenland in the second half of the 18th century, Clim. Past, 20, 1451–1470, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1451-2024, 2024.
Przybylak, R. and Vizi, Z.: Air temperature changes in the Canadian Arctic from the early instrumental period to modern times, Int. J. Climatol., 25, 1507–1522, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1213, 2005.
Przybylak, R., Vizi, Z., and Wyszyński, P.: Air temperature changes in the Arctic from 1801 to 1920, Int. J. Climatol., 30, 791–812, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1918, 2010.
Przybylak, R. and Wyszyński, P.: Air temperature in Novaya Zemlya Archipelago and Vaygach Island from 1832 to 1920 in the light of early instrumental data, Int. J. Climatol., 37, 3491–3508, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4934, 2017.
Przybylak, R., Wyszyński, P., Nordli, Ø., and Strzyżewski, T.: Air temperature changes in Svalbard and the surrounding seas from 1865 to 1920, Int. J. Climatol., 36, 2899–2916, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4527, 2016.
Przybylak, R., Wyszyński, P., and Woźniak, M.: Air temperature conditions in northern Nordaustlandet (NE Svalbard) at the end of World War II, Int. J. Climatol., 38, 2775–2791, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.5459, 2018.
Przybylak, R., Wyszyński, P., and Araźny, A.: Comparison of Early Twentieth Century Arctic Warming and Contemporary Arctic Warming in the light of daily and sub-daily data, J. Climate, 35, 2269–2290, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0162.1, 2022.
Putnins, P.: The Climate of Greenland, in: Climates of the Polar Regions (World Survey of Climatology, Vol. 14), edited by: Orvig, S., p. 3–128, Elsevier Publishing Company, Barking (UK), 1970.
Raible, C. C., Brönnimann, S., Auchmann, R., Brohan, P., Frölicher, T. L., Graf, H.-F., Jones, P., Luterbacher, J., Muthers, S., Neukom, R., Robock, A., Self, S., Sudrajat, A., Timmreck, C., and Wegmann, M.: Tambora 1815 as a test case for high impact volcanic eruptions: Earth system effects, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 7, 569–589, https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.407, 2016.
Schneider, L., Smerdon, J. E., Pretis, F., Hartl-Meier, C., and Esper, J.: A new archive of large volcanic events over the past millennium derived from reconstructed summer temperatures, Environ. Res. Lett., 12, 094005, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7a1b, 2017.
Shi, F., Yang, B., Ljungqvist, F. C., and Yang, F.: Multi-proxy reconstruction of Arctic summer temperatures over the past 1400 years, Clim. Res., 54, 113–128, https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01112, 2012.
Silverman, S. M. and Hayakawa, H.: The Dalton Minimum and John Dalton's Auroral Observations, J. Space Weather Space Clim., 11, 17, https://doi.org/10.1051/swsc/2020082, 2021.
Singh, G., Chmist, K., Przybylak, R., Wyszyński, P., and Araźny, A.: Air temperature data for SW Greenland in the second half of the 18th century, RepOD [data set], https://doi.org/10.18150/L1Y21Q, 2023.
Slivinski, L. C., Compo, G. P., Sardeshmukh, P. D., Whitaker, J. S., McColl, C., Allan, R., Brohan, P., Yin, X., Smith, C. A., Spencer, L. J., Vose, R. S., Rohrer, M., Conroy, R. P., Schuster, D. C., Kennedy, J., Ashcroft, L., Brönnimann, S., Brunet, M., Camuffo, D., Cornes, R., Cram, T. A., Domínguez-Castro, F., Freeman, J. E., Gergis, J., Hawkins, E., Jones, P. D., Kubota, H., Lee, T. C., Lorrey, A. M., Luterbacher, J., Mock, C. J., Przybylak, R., Pudmenzky, C., Slonosky, V. C., Tinz, B., Trewin, B., Wang, X. L., Wilkinson, C., Wood, K., and Wyszyński, P.: An Evaluation of the Performance of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis Version 3, J. Climate, 34, 1417–1438, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0505.1, 2021.
Slivinski, L. C., Compo, G. P., Whitaker, J. S., Sardeshmukh, P. D., Giese, B. S., McColl, C., Allan, R., Yin, X., Vose, R., Titchner, H., Kennedy, J., Spencer, L. J., Ashcroft, L., Brönnimann, S., Brunet, M., Camuffo, D., Cornes, R., Cram, T. A., Crouthamel, R., Domínguez-Castro, F., Freeman, J. E., Gergis, J., Hawkins, E., Jones, P. D., Jourdain, S., Kaplan, A., Kubota, H., Le Blancq, F., Lee, T.-C., Lorrey, A., Luterbacher, J., Maugeri, M., Mock, C. J., Moore, G. W. K., Przybylak, R., Pudmenzky, C., Reason, C., Slonosky, V. C., Smith, C., Tinz, B., Trewin, B., Valente, M. A., Wang, X. L., Wilkinson, C., Wood, K., and Wyszyński, P.: Towards a more reliable historical reanalysis: Improvements for version 3 of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis system, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 145, 2876–2908, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3598, 2019.
Timmreck, C., Toohey, M., Zanchettin, D., Brönnimann, S., Lundstad, E., and Wilson, R.: The unidentified eruption of 1809: a climatic cold case, Clim. Past, 17, 1455–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1455-2021, 2021.
Tingley, M. P. and Huybers, P.: Recent temperature extremes at high northern latitudes unprecedented in the past 600 years, Nature, 496, 201–205, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11969, 2013.
Valler, V., Franke, J., Brugnara, Y., Samakinwa, E., Hand, R., Lundstad, E., Burgdorf, A.-M., Lipfert, L., Friedman, A. R., and Brönnimann, S.: ModE-RA: a global monthly paleo-reanalysis of the modern era 1421 to 2008, Sci. Data, 11, 36, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02733-8, 2024.
Treshnikov, A. F. (Ed.): Atlas Arktiki. Glavnoye Upravlenye Geodeziy i Kartografiy: Moscow, 1985.
Vinther, B. M., Andersen, K. K., Jones, P. D., Briffa, K. R., and Cappelen, J.: Extending Greenland temperature records into the late eighteenth century, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D11105, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006810, 2006.
Vinther, B. M., Johnsen, S. J., Andersen, K. K., Clausen, H. B., and Hansen, A. W.: NAO signal recorded in the stable isotopes of Greenland ice cores, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1387, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL016193, 2003.
Von Storch, H. and Zwiers, F. W.: Statistical Analysis in Climate Research, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 484 pp., https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511612336, 1999.
Warren, R., Bartlome, N. E., Wellinger, N., Franke, J., Hand, R., Brönnimann, S., and Huhtamaa, H.: ClimeApp: data processing tool for monthly, global climate data from the ModE-RA palaeo-reanalysis, 1422 to 2008 CE, Clim. Past, 20, 2645–2662, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2645-2024, 2024.
Werner, J. P., Divine, D. V., Charpentier Ljungqvist, F., Nilsen, T., and Francus, P.: Spatio-temporal variability of Arctic summer temperatures over the past 2 millennia, Clim. Past, 14, 527–557, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-527-2018, 2018.
Whittaker, A.: Karl Ludwig Giesecke: His life, performance and achievements, Mitt. Österr. Miner. Ges., 146, 451–479, 2001.
Wyse Jackson, P. N.: Sir Charles Lewis Giesecke (1761–1833) and Greenland: A recently discovered mineral collection in Trinity College, Dublin, Irish J. Earth Sci., 15, 161–168, 1996.
Zwiers, F. W. and Kharin, V. V.: Changes in extremes of the climate simulated by CCC GCM2 under CO2 doubling, J. Climate, 11, 2200–2222, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1998)011<2200:CITEOT>2.0.CO;2, 1998.
Short summary
This study presents and analyses a newly discovered unique series of meteorological measurements from Greenland, covering the period 1806–1813. This record, the longest instrumental dataset from the Arctic before 1840, provides valuable information for improving knowledge about the climate of that period. The analysis shows that it was one of the coldest intervals in the past two millennia. Intense volcanic activity and low solar activity are proposed as the main reasons for this cold period.
This study presents and analyses a newly discovered unique series of meteorological measurements...
