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Analysis and Interpretation: Temperature and Precipitation Indices

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The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History

Abstract

This chapter introduces the methodology and applications of indexing temperature and precipitation from narrative and proxy sources. Monthly and seasonal indices provide a critical link between historical weather descriptions and quantitative climate reconstruction and analysis. Best practices in indexing, as they were developed in the late twentieth century, require careful handling of data, as well as close familiarity with relevant source material and local climates. Several examples demonstrate the utility of indexing for extending high-resolution temperature and precipitation series, and for demonstrating climate impacts on agriculture and prices.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Oreskes et al., 2010, 1023.

  2. 2.

    Speer, 2010 (and references therein); Dufour, 1870; Angot, 1883.

  3. 3.

    Easton, 1928.

  4. 4.

    Brooks, 1949.

  5. 5.

    Lamb, 1977; Alexandre, 1987; Rodrigo, 2008.

  6. 6.

    IJnsen and Schmidt, 1974; Engelen et al., 2001 used it for temperature reconstruction of the warm and the cold season (excluding April and October) in the last millennium.

  7. 7.

    Mauelshagen, 2010, 55; Camuffo et al., 2010.

  8. 8.

    Bokwa et al., 2001; Dobrovolný et al., 2010.

  9. 9.

    Pfister, 1992, 133.

  10. 10.

    Dobrovolný et al., 2010.

  11. 11.

    See also Brázdil et al., 2010.

  12. 12.

    Camenisch, 2015a, 2015b.

  13. 13.

    Pfister, 1999, 38–39.

  14. 14.

    Pfister, 1984, 104.

  15. 15.

    Pfister and Rohr, 2015.

  16. 16.

    Brázdil et al., 2010.

  17. 17.

    Brázdil et al., 2010.

  18. 18.

    Glaser and Riemann, 2009.

  19. 19.

    Dobrovolný et al., 2010.

  20. 20.

    Brázdil et al., 2010.

  21. 21.

    Glaser and Riemann, 2009, 442.

  22. 22.

    See, e.g., Brázdil et al., 2010.

  23. 23.

    This paragraph follows the discussion by Dobrovolný et al. (2010) and references quoted therein unless stated otherwise.

  24. 24.

    Luterbacher et al., 2010.

  25. 25.

    Dobrovolný et al., 2015.

  26. 26.

    Pauling et al., 2006.

  27. 27.

    Camenisch, 2015a.

  28. 28.

    PAGES 2k Consortium, 2013.

  29. 29.

    Luterbacher et al., 2016.

  30. 30.

    Luterbacher et al., 2010.

  31. 31.

    Pfister, 1988; Pfister and Brázdil, 2006.

  32. 32.

    Pfister and Brázdil, 2006.

  33. 33.

    Pfister, 2005, 61.

  34. 34.

    Camenisch, 2015a.

  35. 35.

    Pfister, 2016.

  36. 36.

    Luterbacher et al., 2010.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of History, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change, Bern, Switzerland

    Christian Pfister & Chantal Camenisch

  2. Department of Geography, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

    Petr Dobrovolný

  3. Global Change Research Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic

    Petr Dobrovolný

Authors
  1. Christian Pfister
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  2. Chantal Camenisch
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  3. Petr Dobrovolný
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Sam White

  2. Institute of History, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change, Bern, Switzerland

    Christian Pfister

  3. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Franz Mauelshagen

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Pfister, C., Camenisch, C., Dobrovolný, P. (2018). Analysis and Interpretation: Temperature and Precipitation Indices. In: White, S., Pfister, C., Mauelshagen, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43020-5_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43020-5_11

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