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The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History pp 517–550Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The 1780s: Global Climate Anomalies, Floods, Droughts, and Famines

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on the 1780s to early 1790s, a particularly interesting period climatically, which also saw the development of the first systematic instrumental weather observations in many locations. These are complemented by extensive documentary evidence covering many parts of the globe including, for example, Iceland, Japan, India, and Australia, as well as numerous European locations. This combination of evidence enables us to analyse specific climate drivers during this period. Particular attention is given here to the role played by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) because extreme phases of the ENSO cycle frequently result in severe weather conditions around large parts of the world. This chapter examines the climatic and socioeconomic effects of the Laki volcanic fissure eruption that occurred in Iceland in 1783–84. Several case studies then detail subsequent climatic events in Europe, India, Australia, Japan, and Africa (including Egypt), as well as attendant societal impacts, including agricultural losses, disease, and famine.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Roxburgh, W. MS Report to the President’s Council 6 Feb, East India Company Boards Collections, ref.no. F/4/99 British Library India Office Collections, London cited in Grove, 1998.

  2. 2.

    Grove, 1998, 318.

  3. 3.

    Alcoforado et al., 2012.

  4. 4.

    Trail, 1799; Cotte et al., 1788. However, in some regions of the world that regularly experience active tectonic events, with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, initial efforts to set up and/or maintain colonial observatories and their records around this time were dashed by the continual loss of instruments to breakages. The long distances and costs required to obtain new instruments eventually thwarted many of these endeavours. This was a particular problem in the East Indies (Zuidervaart and van Gent, 2004, 2013). Johan Maurits Mohr’s expensive and well-equipped personal observatory that he had built in 1765, near Batavia on Java, was damaged by an earthquake in 1780 and then fell into ruin and was demolished in 1812. At its peak, it had been visited by the likes of Bougainville and Cook on their expeditions.

  5. 5.

    Ananthasubramaniam, 1991.

  6. 6.

    Gergis et al., 2009.

  7. 7.

    Mauritius Meteorological Service, 1974; Brohan et al., 2012; Gergis et al., 2010.

  8. 8.

    International Data Rescue Portal. http://ooxo.nl/opdrachten/I-DARE/content/dare-success-stories. Accessed 26 April 2016.

  9. 9.

    Kington, 2009.

  10. 10.

    Thordarson and Self, 1993.

  11. 11.

    Gunnlaugsson et al., 1984; Ogilvie, 1986; Demarée and Ogilvie, 2001.

  12. 12.

    Thórarinsson, 1969, 1979.

  13. 13.

    Bjarnar, 1965.

  14. 14.

    Gunnlaugsson et al., 1984.

  15. 15.

    Ogilvie, 1986.

  16. 16.

    Ogilvie, 2010.

  17. 17.

    Stothers, 1996; Demarée and Ogilvie, 2001.

  18. 18.

    Demarée and Ogilvie, 1998, 2001.

  19. 19.

    Demarée and Ogilvie, 2001.

  20. 20.

    “British Weather from 1700 to 1849.” Accessed 26 April 2016. http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/18c/weather.html.

  21. 21.

    Franklin, 1785.

  22. 22.

    Gettelman et al., 2015; Santer et al., 2015.

  23. 23.

    Robock, 2000; Santer et al., 2013; Ridley et al., 2014.

  24. 24.

    Kington, 1980.

  25. 25.

    Grattan et al., 2005.

  26. 26.

    D’Arrigo et al., 2011. A potential 20CR reconstruction of the atmospheric circulation over North Atlantic–Europe region during and after the Laki fissure eruption, as was done recently for the later Tambora and Krakatoa eruptions, is planned: Tambora (https://vimeo.com/120228702 has volcanic aerosol estimates from Tom Crowley; https://vimeo.com/120787915 has volcanic aerosol estimates from Gao, Robock, and colleagues (much larger amounts but timing is late); https://vimeo.com/120792719 has no volcanic aerosols and will serve as a “control” of what can be obtained from the sparse pressure observations alone) and Krakatoa (https://vimeo.com/117533217).

  27. 27.

    Allan and D’Arrigo, 1999.

  28. 28.

    Gergis and Fowler, 2009. More recently, Allan et al., 2018 have refined the definition further, defining “a ‘protracted’ episode as occurring when the SOI and Niño 4 SST anomalies are of either sign for 2 years or more, with any sign change in that period being in a maximum of only two consecutive months, when using instrumental records, and 3 years or more when analysing palaeoclimatic ENSO reconstructions.”

  29. 29.

    Gergis and Fowler, 2009.

  30. 30.

    Chenoweth and Thistlewood, 2003; Ortlieb, 2000.

  31. 31.

    Endfield, 2008.

  32. 32.

    Gergis and Fowler, 2009.

  33. 33.

    Grove, 2007.

  34. 34.

    Cook et al., 2010.

  35. 35.

    Nash and Adamson, 2014.

  36. 36.

    Shi et al., 2014.

  37. 37.

    Patnaik and Sivagnanam, 2007.

  38. 38.

    Danvers, 1877, 1.

  39. 39.

    Damodaran, 2015.

  40. 40.

    Danvers, 1877, 21.

  41. 41.

    Danvers, 1877, 21.

  42. 42.

    Danvers, 1877, 22.

  43. 43.

    Danvers, 1877, 22–23.

  44. 44.

    Elliot, 1863.

  45. 45.

    Hunter et al., 1907.

  46. 46.

    Grove, 2007.

  47. 47.

    Danvers, 1877, 1.

  48. 48.

    Danvers, 1877, 2.

  49. 49.

    Danvers, 1877, 2.

  50. 50.

    Danvers, 1877, 12.

  51. 51.

    Campbell and Hunter, 1868, 114–15.

  52. 52.

    The Nautical Magazine, 1832, 293.

  53. 53.

    Roxburgh, 1975, 34.

  54. 54.

    Campbell and Hunter, 1868, 142.

  55. 55.

    Campbell and Hunter, 1868, 141.

  56. 56.

    Danvers, 1877, 21.

  57. 57.

    Campbell and Hunter, 1868, 152.

  58. 58.

    Campbell and Hunter, 1868, 147–53.

  59. 59.

    Campbell and Hunter, 1868, 175–77.

  60. 60.

    Campbell and Hunter, 1868, 185.

  61. 61.

    Grove, 1998.

  62. 62.

    Jevons, 1859; Russell, 1877.

  63. 63.

    Gergis et al., 2009, 2010; Ashcroft et al., 2012, 2014a, 2014b; Fenby and Gergis, 2013; Gergis and Ashcroft, 2013; Gergis, 2018.

  64. 64.

    Risbey et al., 2009.

  65. 65.

    Diaz and Markgraf, 2000.

  66. 66.

    Risbey et al., 2009.

  67. 67.

    Allan et al., 1996.

  68. 68.

    Gergis and Fowler, 2009; Quinn, 2000; Quinn and Neal, 1995; Ortlieb, 2000.

  69. 69.

    Gergis and Fowler, 2009.

  70. 70.

    Gergis et al., 2010; Fenby and Gergis, 2013; Gergis and Ashcroft, 2013.

  71. 71.

    Gergis and Ashcroft. 2013.

  72. 72.

    Collins, 1798.

  73. 73.

    Collins, 1798.

  74. 74.

    Hunter, 1793.

  75. 75.

    Collins, 1798.

  76. 76.

    Collins, 1798.

  77. 77.

    Tench, 1793.

  78. 78.

    Collins, 1798.

  79. 79.

    Collins, 1798.

  80. 80.

    Hunter, 1793.

  81. 81.

    Hunter, 1793.

  82. 82.

    Tench, 1793.

  83. 83.

    Collins, 1798.

  84. 84.

    Hunter, 1793.

  85. 85.

    Collins, 1798.

  86. 86.

    Collins, 1798.

  87. 87.

    Mikami, 1983, 1987.

  88. 88.

    Mikami, 1996, 2008; Zaiki et al., 2012.

  89. 89.

    Mikami, 1996, 2008; Zaiki et al., 2012.

  90. 90.

    Mikhail, 2015.

  91. 91.

    Thordarson and Self, 2003.

  92. 92.

    Oman et al., 2005, 2006.

  93. 93.

    Lyons, 1905.

  94. 94.

    Mikhail, 2011.

  95. 95.

    al-Jabartī, II, 1994, 123.

  96. 96.

    Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, Hatt-ı Hümayun 28/1354 (7 Zilkade 1198/22 September 1784).

  97. 97.

    al-Jabartī, II, 1994, 138.

  98. 98.

    al-Jabartī, II, 1994, 138.

  99. 99.

    al-Jabartī, II, 1994, 139–40.

  100. 100.

    Volney, I, 1798, 122

  101. 101.

    al-Jabartī, II, 1994, 155.

  102. 102.

    Volney, I, 1798, 123.

  103. 103.

    Mikhail, 2008.

  104. 104.

    Volney, I, 1798, 122.

  105. 105.

    Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, Hatt-ı Hümayun 29/1361 (13 Şa‘ban 1198/1 July 1784); Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, Hatt-ı Hümayun 28/1354 (7 Zilkade 1198/22 September 1784).

  106. 106.

    Volney, I, 1798, 122.

  107. 107.

    For an earlier comparative example see: White, 2011.

  108. 108.

    al-Jabartī, II, 1994, 133.

  109. 109.

    al-Jabartī, II, 1994, 123, 133–34.

  110. 110.

    al-Jabartī, 1994, 138–39.

  111. 111.

    Bois, 1944.

  112. 112.

    Debien et al., 2010.

  113. 113.

    Mercer, 1974.

  114. 114.

    Almeida, 1997; Patterson, 1988; Brooks, 2006.

  115. 115.

    Becker, 1985.

  116. 116.

    Matthews, 1788.

  117. 117.

    Ogot, 1992.

  118. 118.

    Nicholson, 1980.

  119. 119.

    Nicholson, 1980; Norrgård, 2013, 2015.

  120. 120.

    Miles, 1782.

  121. 121.

    Watts, 1784; Morgue, 1784.

  122. 122.

    Norris et al., 1787.

  123. 123.

    Shanahan et al., 2009; Miller, 1982.

  124. 124.

    Nicholson, 1998a, 1998b, 2000.

  125. 125.

    Ogot, 1992.

  126. 126.

    Verschuren et al., 2000.

  127. 127.

    Tyson, 1986.

  128. 128.

    Nicholson, 1981.

  129. 129.

    Theal, 1888.

  130. 130.

    Nicholson, 2014.

  131. 131.

    Gergis and Fowler, 2009.

  132. 132.

    Diaz and Markgraf, 2000.

  133. 133.

    Allan et al. 1996; Risbey et al. 2009.

  134. 134.

    Allan et al., 1996.

  135. 135.

    Fagan, 2009.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sussex, Sussex, UK

    Vinita Damodaran & James Hamilton

  2. Met Office, Exeter, UK

    Rob Allan

  3. Stefansson Arctic Institute, Akureyri, Iceland

    Astrid E. J. Ogilvie

  4. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Astrid E. J. Ogilvie

  5. Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium

    Gaston R. Demarée

  6. School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Joëlle Gergis

  7. Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan

    Takehiko Mikami

  8. Department of History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Alan Mikhail

  9. Earth Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Sharon E. Nicholson

  10. Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Stefan Norrgård

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  1. Vinita Damodaran
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  6. Takehiko Mikami
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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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Damodaran, V. et al. (2018). The 1780s: Global Climate Anomalies, Floods, Droughts, and Famines. 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_34

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43020-5_34

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-43020-5

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