National Public Radio ran an interesting story on October 18, 2009 concerning attempts to predict what climate change will do to the environment. Apparently, climatologists are starting to use logbooks from old sailing voyages, particularly those of Charles Darwin to see what the climate and land looked like in the past in order to predict what it may look like in the future.“Dennis Wheeler, of the University of Sunderland in Britain, is one of those climatologists. His team is reaching back — way back — 200 to 300 years for the weather data inside those logbooks so they can post them online.” The data from this research can be used “to calibrate the models climatologists use to predict climate change.”
The logbooks will also help track the growth and shrinkage of the ice caps as the sailors in that era were careful to log any contact with ice on the high seas. Perhaps with enough information these climatologists can use the past to predict what life may be like in the future if climate change is not dealt with.
To read the National Public Radio story click here.
Posted: 10/20/09
