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A summer temperature bias in early alcohol thermometers

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Abstract

This paper analyses the response of alcohol thermometers in relation to the departure from linearity and the choice of the calibration points. The result is that alcohol thermometers are affected by large departures that reach a maximum (i.e. −6 °C) at 50 °C ambient temperature. This may have caused a severe bias in early records, when alcohol thermometers were popular, especially during the Little Ice Age. Choosing a lower temperature for the upper point, calibration may substantially reduce this bias. Examples are given with thermometers in use in the 17th and 18th centuries. A careful correction of long series is necessary to avoid misleading climate interpretations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Vito Fernicola (INRIM Torino) and Nicola Comisso (CNR-ICMATE, Padua) for useful discussions; to Alessandra Lenzi and Susanna Cimmino (Museo Galileo-Institute and Museum of History of Science, Florence) for scientific documentation. The research was supported by the EU funded projects Millennium (Contract 017008-2) and Climate for Culture (Grant 226973).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), Padua, Italy

    Dario Camuffo & Antonio della Valle

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  1. Dario Camuffo
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  2. Antonio della Valle
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Correspondence to Dario Camuffo.

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Dario Camuffo and Antonio della Valle have equally contributed to this paper.

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Camuffo, D., Valle, A.d. A summer temperature bias in early alcohol thermometers. Climatic Change 138, 633–640 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1760-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1760-8

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