Abstract
The observations taken in Bologna, Italy, from 1715 to 1815, three times a day, with a number of thermometers (i.e., Stancari air thermometers, Little Florentine thermometer, Florentine stick thermometer and a number of Réaumur spirit and mercury thermometers) some of them operating in parallel, have been recovered and analysed. The early thermometers had unknown scales and temperature units, with deviations due to the bulb shape or the thermometric liquid, but it is possible to interpret them after comparison between parallel readings. Historical sources and the analysis of the data fingerprints and their variability permit recognition of where instruments were located and who the observers were. It is also possible to relate the indoor climate of historical buildings to the outdoor one, and transform indoor readings as they were taken outdoors, expressed in Celsius. The Bologna series has been compared with the contemporary observations in Padua, Venice and Milano. The climate analysis shows that the temperature fluctuated but with an increasing trend. The 1730–1770 decades constituted the coldest period and 1980—today the warmest one. The eighteenth century was generally cold and had an impressive frequency of extremely severe winters that exceeded the rest of the series. The whole dataset (i.e. 1715–2015) of daily temperatures has been included to allow further use for scientific purposes. Finally, the paper provides a methodological example of procedures to recover and analyse early instrumental series.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Historical References
Amontons G (1702) Discours sur quelques propriétés de l’air, et le moyen d’en connaître la température dans tous les climats de la Terre. Mémoires Académie Royale des Sciences, Paris, pp 155–174
Celsius A (1742) Observationer om twänne beständiga grader på en thermometer (observations on two persistent degrees on a thermometer). Kungliga Svenska Vetenskaps Akademiens Handlingar (Ann R Swed Acad Sci) 4:197–205
Delisle JN (1738) Memoires pour servir l’Histoire & au progrès de l’Astronomie, de la Géographie & de la Physique. Académie des Sciences, St Petersburg
De Luc JA (1772) Recherches sur les modifications de l’atmosphère contenant l’histoire critique du baromètre et du thermomètre. (no printer indication) Geneva
D*** (Dalencé J) (1688) Traittez des barométre thermométres et notiométres ou hygrométres. Wetstein, Amsterdam
Fahrenheit DG (1724) Experimenta circa gradum caloris liquorum nonullorum ebullientium instituta Phil. Trans. N. 381, Vol XXXIIII, pag. 1–3. Translated (1740) Experiments concerning the degrees of heat of boiling liquors. Memories Royal Society, London, pp 343–344
Flaugergues H (1813) Le rapport de la dilatation de l’air avec la chaleur. J Phys Chem Hist Nat 77:273–292
Galeazzi DG (1746) De thermometris Amontonianis conficiendis, in Commentarii de Bononiensi Scientiarum et Artium Instituto atque Academia, Vol.2, Part 2, Volpe, Bologna, 201–209
Hemmer JJ (1783) Descriptio instrumentorum meteorologicorum, tam eorum, quam Societas distribuit, quam quibus praeter haec Manheimii utitur. Ephemerides Societatis Meteorologicae Palatinae, Tomus 1. Ex officina novae societatis typographicae, Mannheim, pp 57–90
Humboldt A (1817) Des lignes isothermes et de la distribution de la chaleur sur le globe, pp 462–602 in Mémoires de Physique et de Chimie de la Société d’Arcueil, Volume 3. Peronneau, Paris
Jurin J (1723) Invitatio ad observations Meteorologicas communi consilio instituendas. Philos Trans 379:422–427
Magalotti L (1667) Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell’Accademia del Cimento, Florence
Réaumur RA (1732) Règles pour construire des thermomètres dont les degrés soient comparables et qui donnent des idées d’un chaud et d’un froid qui puissent être rapportés à des mesures connues. Histoire de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, Année MCCCXXX pp 452–507
Réaumur RA (1733) Second memoire sur la construction des thermomètres dont les degrés sont comparables. Memoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, Année MCCCXXX pp 250–296
Scarselli F (1766) Nelle solenni esequie del celebre filosofo e medico bolognese Giacomo Bartolomeo Beccari orazione, della Volpe, Bologna
Stancari VF (1708) De Thermometro ab Amontonio recens inventis. Ex epistula ad Maraldum. Printed posthumous in: Schedae Mathematicae, Barbiroli Archigymnasium, Bologna 1713, pp 53–55
Targioni Tozzetti G (1780) Notizie degli aggrandimenti delle Scienze Fisiche accaduti in Toscana nel corso di anni LX del secolo XVII. Tomo I, Bouchard, Florence
Modern References
Baiada E (1986) Da Beccari a Ranuzzi: la meteorologia nell’Accademia Bolognese nel XVIII secolo. In: Finzi R (ed) Le meteore ed il frumento: Clima, agricoltura, meteorologia a Bologna nel ‘700. Il Mulino, Bologna, pp 99–261
Brunetti M, Buffoni L, Lo Vecchio G, Maugeri M, Nanni T (2001) Tre secoli di meteorologia a Bologna. CUSL, Milano
Camuffo D (2002a) History of the long series of the air temperature in Padova (1725-today). Clim Chang 53(1–3):7–76
Camuffo D (2002b) Errors in early temperature series arising from changes in style of measuring time, sampling schedule and number of observations. Clim Chang 53(1–3):331–354
Camuffo D (2002c) Calibration and instrumental errors in early measurements of air temperature. Clim Chang 53(1–3):297–330
Camuffo D, Bertolin C (2012a) The earliest temperature observations in the world: The Medici Network (1654–1670). Clim Chang 111(2):335–363
Camuffo D, Bertolin C (2012b) Recovery of the early period of long instrumental time series of air temperature in Padua, Italy (1716–2007). Phys Chem Earth 40–41:23–31
Camuffo D, della Valle A (2016) A summer temperature bias in early alcohol thermometers. Clim Chang 138:633–640
Camuffo D, Bertolin C, Craievich A, Granziero R, Enzi S, (2017) When the Lagoon was frozen over in Venice from A.D. 604 to 2012: evidence from written documentary sources, visual arts and instrumental readings. Méditerranée, Varia 1–68. http://mediterranee.revues.org/7983
Camuffo D, della Valle A, Bertolin C, Santorelli E (2016) The Stancari Air Thermometer and the 1715–1737 record in Bologna, Italy. Clim Chang 139:623–636
Cocheo C, Camuffo D (2002) Corrections of systematic errors and data homogenisation in the Padova series (1725 – today). Clim Chang 53(1–3):77–100
Comani S (1987) The historical temperature series of Bologna (Italy): 1716–1774. Clim Chang 11:375–390
Masih I (2011) Understanding hydrological variability for improved water management in the semiarid Karkheh basin, Iran. CRC Press/Balkema, Leiden, The Netherlands
Matsuo T, Sasyo Y (1981) Non-melting phenomena of snowflakes observed in subsaturated air below freezing level. J Meteorol Soc Jpn Ser II 59(1):26–32
Maugeri M, Buffoni L, Delmonte B, Fassina A (2002) Daily Milan temperature and pressure series (1763–1998): completing and homogenising the data. Clim Chang 53:119–149
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Michele Brunetti (CNR-ISAC, Bologna), Enrica Baiada (Technical Institute Oddone Belluzzi, Bologna), Marco Del Monte (Bologna University), Alessandra Lenzi and Susanna Cimmino (Museo Galileo-Institute and Museum of History of Science, Florence), the Archiginnasio Library (Bologna) and Specola Library (Padua) for kind assistance and documentation; the Emilia Romagna ARPA and the Italian Air Force for modern data; the EU funded projects IMPROVE (ENV4-CT97-0511), Millennium (Contract 017008–2), Climate for Culture (Grant 226973) for support. Sincere thanks to the Editor and the anonymous Referees for their appreciation and useful suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Camuffo, D., della Valle, A., Bertolin, C. et al. Temperature observations in Bologna, Italy, from 1715 to 1815: a comparison with other contemporary series and an overview of three centuries of changing climate. Climatic Change 142, 7–22 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-017-1931-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-017-1931-2