Project Findings In Action

I have thoroughly enjoyed helping out in the data collection for this project, and have found the historical stories quite captivating. I would certainly be interested in continuing with my participation in the project, especially in regards to the recording of the historical anthropogenic interactions on the Arctic landscape.

One of those captivating stories I stumbled upon when reading through the old weather blog, was on the USS Jeannette. The story delves into the 1879 exploration voyage headed to the north pole from San Francisco with 33 hands on deck. Three years later when they finally made their way back, only 13 remained. As the old logs were transcribed it illustrated how the drawn out catastrophe unfolded when the vessel found itself wedged in the ice floes, which is where it remained for two years before it sank from the immense power of the ice. The loss of the ship meant the crew had to venture 1000 km across these dangerous floes to civilization. In the process eight men died in a harsh storm and another twelve died from exposure to the elements as well as starvation.

In addition to the historical relevance of this tragic voyage, it was noticed that in these logs, the men took detailed accounts on the sightings of auroral events. These transcriptions by volunteers of the aurora borealis records became quite beneficial in bettering the understanding of solar activity. The executive officer of the vessel was Lieutenant Charles Chip, who made the best out of his hardship by taking measurements with his galvanometer (detects and measures small electric currents) and other detailed recordings of the phenomena in hopes of writing about it on his return, but unfortunately he was one of the individuals that perished. Fortunately science though, his findings made their way to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration to be preserved for later use.

For two years, Chris Scott with Solar Stormwatch, David Willis an expert in solar activity, and Julia Wilkinson with the Astrophysics Department of Oxford University analyzed these entries for the strength, direction, color, and frequency of the aurora events. Coupled with records from the Royal Observatory, they were able to see that at times the auroral activity would expand towards the equator during more severe solar storms. They would even look at lunar phases to see if there was any influence upon the auroral activity. Lastly, they were able to find that the activity would oftentimes re-occur over a 27 day period, which they concluded that these active regions would actually linger beyond a single solar rotation.

I thought this was a great example of the influence and benefits that the old weather project has had on continued understanding of climate, weather, and more so the atmosphere in this case. It also is very beneficial to historians as well as descendants of the brave men who languished through or perished in this tragic journey.