In 1818, HMS Isabella
formed part of a Naval Expedition to seek a Northwest Passage, commanded by John Ross. They explored Baffin Bay, but turned back at the entrance to Lancaster Sound, spending only one summer in the Arctic. The ship's meteorological
log, kept by William Robertson, is in the ADM55 collection and contains instrumental observations
of sea temperature, air temperature and pressure, and also observations
of wind speed and direction. We have digitised the meteorological log for 1818, and also taken the ship's position information (latitude and longitude) from the deck log:
AnalysisComparing the observed sea temperatures and air temperatures with typical values for the recent past (1961-90 normals) give a picture of the weather in the Canadian Arctic in 1818 - an area where no observations were previously available.The detailed analysis demonstrates that, in Baffin Bay, the summer of 1818 was slightly colder than was typical in the late 20th century. The sea-ice coverage was greater than that seen in the last few years, but within the range covered by the years 1961-90. |
Air temperatures observed on the ship (red dots) compared
with recent temperatures expected at the same day and location (1961-90 normals: black line). |
