Abstract
Systematic gathering of climate data in the Old Northwest began in the second decade of the 1800s, prompted by curiosity and practical concerns. Climate information was needed for agriculture and commerce, to investigate the possible relationship between weather and human diseases, and to develop a scientific understanding of storms. In addition, the climate record fueled speculation that the climate was changing and human activities associated with settlement were contributing factors. The first widespread networks of weather/climate stations in the Old Northwest were operated by the US Army Medical Department, the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, and the Smithsonian Institution. By the mid-1870s, the early climate stations and telegraph-linked weather stations became part of a new national weather service operated by the Army Signal Service (forerunner of today’s National Weather Service) whose primary aim was short-term weather forecasting. Examination of these first weather/climate observation networks reveals how instrumentation and observation techniques evolved with important implications for the study of climate change.
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Hopkins, E.J., Moran, J.M. (2009). Monitoring the Climate of the Old Northwest: 1820–1895. In: Dupigny-Giroux, LA., Mock, C. (eds) Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2828-0_11
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