Abstract
The use of documentary sources has proven useful to identify extremeclimatic events and their variability during the pre-instrumental period. Theaim of this paper is to describe iceberg sightings in the Western SouthAtlantic during the second half of the 18th century, as recorded from Spanishlogbooks. A total of five sightings have been found, two corresponding toisolated bergs and three to outbreaks. The relevance of these results istwofold: they are the first documented iceberg sightings to date and, aboveall, they correspond to very unusual episodes, characterized by a high numberof high-sized bergs and by the relatively low latitude of their location. Itis suggested that they could be associated to cold episodes in Antarctica.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aristarain, A., Jouzel, J., and Lorius, C.: 1990, 'A 400 Years Isotope Record of the Antarctic Peninsula Climate', Geophys. Res. Lett. 17(12), 2369-2372.
Burrows, C. J.: 1976, 'Icebergs in the Southern Ocean', New Zealand Geographer 32, 127-138.
Garcia, R., Diaz, H., Herrera, R. G., Eischeid, J., Prieto, R., Hernandez, E., Gimeno, L., Rubio, F., and Bascary, A.: 2001, 'Atmospheric Circulation Changes in the Tropical Pacific Inferred from the Voyages of the Manila Galleons in the Sixteenth-Eighteenth Centuries', Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 82, 2435-2455.
Garcia Herrera, R., Wheeler, D., Können, G., Prieto, M. R., and Jones, P.: 1999, 'CLIWOC: A Co-operative Effort to Recover Data for Oceanic Areas', PAGES Newsletter 9(2), 19.
Garcia Herrera, R., Garcia, R., Prieto, M. R., Hernandez, E., Gimeno, L., and Diaz, H.: 2003, 'On the Use of Spanish Historical Archives to Reconstruct Climate Variability', Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 84, 1025-1035, in press.
Garcia Herrera, R., Rubio, F., Wheeler, D., Hernandez, E., Prieto, M. R., and Gimeno, L.: 2004, 'The Use of Spanish and British Documentary Sources in the Investigation of Atlantic Hurricanes in Historical Times', In Murnane, R. and Liu, K. (eds.), Hurricanes: Present and Past.
Heap, J. A.: 1972, Los bancos de hielo flotantes de La Antartida, La Antartida, Omega Ed., Barcelona.
Jacka T. H. and Budd, W. F.: 1998, 'Detection of Temperature and Sea-ice-extent Changes in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean, 1949-96', Ann. Glaciol. 27, 553-559.
Limbert, D. W. S.: 1974, 'Variations in the Mean Annual Temperature for the Antarctic Peninsula, 1904-1972', Polar Record 17(108), 303-306.
Lopez, A. J., Canellas, M., Garcia, M. B., and Hernandez, A.: 1996, Inventario de la sección de Correos, Archivo General de Indias, Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura, Madrid, p. 794.
Peel, D. A.: 1992, 'Ice Core Evidence: Antarctic Peninsula', in Bradley, R. and Jones, P. (eds.), Climate since A.D. 1500, London, pp. 549-569.
Peel, D. A., Mulvaney, R., Pasteur, E. C., and Chenery, C.: 1996, 'Climate Changes in the Atlantic Sector of Antarctica over the Past 500 Years from Ice-Core and Other Evidence', in Jones, P., Bradley, R., and Jouzel, J. (eds.), Climate Variations and Forcing Mechanisms of the Last 2000 Years, NATO ASI Series, 14, Berlin, pp. 243-262.
Prieto, M. R., Herrera, R., and Dussel, P.: 2000, 'Archival Evidence for Some Aspects of Historical Climate Variability in Argentina and Bolivia during the 17th and 18th Centuries', in Volkheimer, W. and Smolka, P. (eds.), Southern Hemisphere Paleo and Neoclimates, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg.
Prieto, M., Herrera, R., and Dussel, P.: 1999a, 'Historical Evidences of the Mendoza River Streamflow Fluctuations and their Relationship with ENSO', Holocene 9(4), 473-481.
Prieto, M. R. and Herrera, R.: 1999b, 'Austral Climate and Glaciers in the 16th Century through the Observations of the Spanish Navigators', Quaternary of South America and Antarctic Peninsula, A. A. Balkema/Rotterdam/Brookfield, Vol. 11, pp. 153-179.
Reed, J.: 1936, La Expedicion Malaspina en el Río de la Plata, De documentos relativos al viaje de las corbetas 'Descubierta' y 'Atrevida' e informes de sus oficiales sobre el Virreynato, extraidos de la obra de Novo y Colson, Prólogo y Adición de Ratto, H. R., Biblioteca del Oficial de Marina, V. XXII, Buenos Aires.
Rubin, M. J.: 1982, 'James Cook's Scientific Programme in the Southern Ocean, 1772-75', Pol ar Record 21(130), 33-49.
Simmonds, I.: 1998, 'The Climate of the Antarctic Region', in Hobbs, J. E., Lindesay, J. A., and Bridgman, H. A. (eds.), Climates of the Southern Continents. Present, Past and Future, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp. 137-160.
Towson, J. T.: 1858, 'Icebergs in the Southern Ocean', Hist. Soc. Lancashire Cheshire Transact. 10, 239-254.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
del Rosario Prieto, A.M., García-Herrera, B.R. & Martin, E.H. Early Records of Icebergs in the South Atlantic Ocean from Spanish Documentary Sources. Climatic Change 66, 29–48 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CLIM.0000043142.94461.d1
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CLIM.0000043142.94461.d1