Early American sunspot drawings from the “year without a summer”

Details

• Journal Title:
  Space Weather
• Personal Author:
  Denig, W. F. ; McVaugh, M. R.
• NOAA Program & Office:
  NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) ; NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information)
• Description:
  A set of sunspot drawings from the early nineteenth century were discovered in the journals of the Reverend Jonathan Fisher. These drawings were made during a time when abnormally cold weather caused crops in New England to fail due to intermittent frost throughout the summer months of 1816, normally referred to as the “year without a summer.” Global changes in weather patterns were the result of the Mount Tambora volcano eruption. Since this association was unknown at the time, there was speculation that the Sun was the cause inspiring the Reverend Fisher to monitor changes in sunspots during the summer of 1816 and continuing into 1817. These sunspot drawings for the summer of 1816 overlap the solar observations of Sir William Hershel.
• Subjects:
  • Space environment
  • Sunspots
• Keywords:
  • Atmospheric Science
  • sunspot drawings
  • space weather
• Source:
  Space Weather, 15(7), 857-860
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1002/2017SW001647
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Rights Information:
  Other
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/45591/noaa_45591_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 395.97 KB]
• Collection(s):
  National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service (NESDIS)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:03c4d1aed678bf19809a1fd7bea00a58c6d067457413a9c4b26430b9974d02af