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Captain Bligh's Logbooks To Yield Climate Bounty

Pickens writes "The BBC reports that researchers are digitizing the captains' logs from the voyages of Charles Darwin on HMS Beagle, Captain Cook from HMS Discovery, Captain Bligh from The Bounty, and 300 other 18th and 19th century ships' logbooks to provide historical climate records for modern-day climate researchers who will use the meteorological data to build up a picture of weather patterns in the world at the beginning of the industrial era. The researchers are cross-referencing the data with historical records for crop failures, droughts and storms and will compare it with data for the modern era in order to predict similar events in the future. 'The observations from the logbooks on wind force and weather are astonishingly good and often better than modern logbooks,' says Climatologist Dr. Dennis Wheeler from the University of Sunderland. 'Of course the sailors had to be conscientious. The thought that you could hit a reef was a great incentive to get your observations absolutely right!' The logbooks will be online next year at the UK's National Archives."

7 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not old enough by mister_playboy · · Score: 0, Troll

    Plants make use of CO2 in photosynthesis, and they (along with other producers such as algae) are the ultimate basis of all biological energy on Earth. Frankly, I find it a bit impressive to believe that all the world's various plants can survive on the small fraction (~0.25%) of the atmosphere that is CO2.

    --
    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will
  2. Shock Horror - the climate changes! by novae_res · · Score: 0, Troll

    Have any of these climatologists considered climate change is a natural cycle of the planet? The ice record reveals that the extreme swings which our planet undergoes in each cycle are perfectly natural. And the evidence clearly shows that CO2 levels increase after warming occurs, not the other way around. This whole pseudo-science is fundamentally flawed. The idea that we as humans can control or even reverse this process is highly egotistical, and perhaps even delusional, for a single super volcano can produce more CO2 and other pollutants than we can collectively in 20 years. Now I do agree that excess energy consumption and general pollution should be reduced as that impacts all of us, but all this climate change propaganda drives me nuts!

  3. Re:We'll only read about it if they support AGW by s-whs · · Score: 0, Troll

    > If the logbooks don't support human-induced climate change, the media will ignore them.
    > Don't you DARE call it "science" when skepticism is met with derision.

    Whatever.

    Just about all the skeptics I've heard talk or read something from, are complete and utter fruitcakes. People from unrelated disciplines or not having any decent science background, let alone the ability to analyse and reason above the level of a 5 year old toddler. I don't mean to imply that those with a science background can/do analyse/reason. I've seen plenty of those (PhDs, professors) who are quite close to being morons. I don't know where they got their degrees, but nowhere good I'm sure...

    When and if there are skeptics that provide good arguments, they should be heard. I don't think any of the skeptics I know of, provide arguments that are worth listening to, and the arguments given can easily be discounted.

  4. Re:Shhh! by Idiomatick · · Score: 0, Troll

    Interesting that we only have climate data going back 200~500years yet I have a picture showing it go back 5million years. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Five_Myr_Climate_Change.png Damn science, able to figure things out without people actually being there and measuring it at the time. Who knew that paleoclimatology was a whole science. Troll :/

  5. Re:the little ice age by Idiomatick · · Score: 0, Troll

    If we had a one degree annual increase for any length of time we'd all be dead pretty fast... I guess this is a troll but still I see people that really believe that a few degrees don't matter. It is hard to tell if people are trolling you or not when your opposition is so incredibly dumb.

  6. Re:We'll only read about it if they support AGW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    I am sorry but there has NOT been a continual stream of evidence at all. There have been a lot of claims made (completely unsupported by any scientific research) and a great deal of BAD science along the lines or correlation equals causation. Personally I don't know one way or the other whether there is human induced climate change as their has been a lack of any quality research on the matter. I do know however polution is bad and whether climate change exists or not we should clean up our act.

  7. I agree, climate change isnt real (troll) by bug1 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I feel sorry for all these climate change people, they have all been sucked in. As you point out, the data that climate change bases its information on might have been influenced by external events (like hot air, CO2 etc).

    I even heard a rumour that all this climate change shenanigans is just a cover story being driven by lobbyists from the Dutch Windmill Company Pty Ltd, apparently they have some patents on windmills and they have executing a now 30 year plan to destroy the oil industry, an industry that is essential if we are to maintain our mass produced throw away culture.