professor john e thornes professor of applied meteorology university of birmingham cultural...
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Professor John E ThornesProfessor of Applied Meteorology
University of Birmingham
Cultural Climatology& the
Visualisation of Climate Change
Breugal Hunters in the Snow: Little Ice Age
Art a Proxy for Climate Change?
•Lamb detected increased cloudiness in Little Ice Age –small sample of 200 paintings
•Neuberger (1967) examined 12,284 paintings in 41 art museums in 17 cities in 9 countries. Also detected Little Ice Age
•All artists subconsciously depict climate? Some more consciously than others?
CULTURAL CLIMATOLOGY
• The critical examination of the impact of climate on culture and the impact of culture on climate.
• Culture and Climate: “You can’t have one without the other”
• Visual Turn/Visual Literacy• Theory of Pictures/Picturing Theory• Visualising Climate Change
Atmospheric Services
GWP Entity Service Type
1 The air that we breathe 1.5 O2, N2 etc Provisioning
2 Combustion of fuel 1.5 O2 Provisioning
3 The extraction of atmospheric gases <0.1 O2, N2 etc Provisioning
4 The redistribution of water services 1.0 H2O Supporting
5 The cleansing capacity of the atmosphere & dispersion of air pollution
1.0 OH , Wind, Temp
Regulating
6 Direct use of the atmosphere for ecosystems and agriculture
1.0 CO2, N2, Solar Provisioning &Supporting
7 Direct use of the atmosphere for communication and transport
1.0 Density, Pressure
Supporting
8 Direct use of the atmosphere for power 0.15 Wind, Solar Provisioning
9 Protection from radiation, plasma and meteors
50 Density Supporting
10 Natural global warming of 33 degrees Celsius
50 CO2, CH4 , H2O etc
Supporting
11 Atmospheric Recreation & climate tourism
0.2 Sun, Wind, Clouds +
Cultural
12 Aesthetic, spiritual and sensual properties of the atmosphere
<0.1 Sky, clouds + Cultural
Picturing Theory
observations
natural and anthropogenic forcings
natural forcings only (solar+volcanic)
Causes for climate change (attribution)
(IPCC AR4, WG1)
Observed changes are
- consistent with expected response to a combination of natural and anthropogenic forcings
- inconsistent with alternative explanations
global mean temperature 1900 – 2005
observations: blackmulti-model ensemble mean: red and blue
Cultural Representations
The Next Generation (XRWIS)RouteForecast: ENTICE Technology Ltd
Route-by-route suggested action based on underlying RST and condition forecasts.
Atmospheric Art
• Atmospheric Art is a new genre to describe works of art that are not only directly representational of form & process in the atmosphere such as Constable’s Cloud Series or Monet’s London Series but also works of art that are clearly nonrepresentational and performative such as Eliasson’s Installations and Turrell’s Skyspaces.
• Theory of Pictures
Merleau-Ponty
• As I contemplate the blue of the sky, I am not ‘set over against’ it as an acosmic subject .... I am the sky itself as it is drawn together and unified, and as it begins to exist for itself; my consciousness is saturated with this limitless blue. (1962)
“We see nothing truly till we understand it” John Constable
Landscape Noon: The Haywain 1821 John Constable
Atmospheric Art
• Sky: a fantastic natural light show - Cyanometer
• Atmosphere: aerial perspective, wind and air pollution
• Weather: clouds, rain, fog, thunderstorms, sunshine, overcast
• Light: sun, moon, rainbows, crepuscular rays etc
• Climate: vegetation, season, clothing• Climate Change: air pollution, flooding,
drought, harvest failure, new crops
Letter to Revd John Fisher 23rd October 1821
• “I have done a great deal of skying”• “I have often been advised to consider my
skey - as a White Sheet drawn behind the objects”
• “The skey is the key note - the standard of scale and the chief organ of sentiment”
• “But these remarks do not apply to accidental effects of skey”
Sepr. 10. 1821, Noon, gentle Wind at West. Very sultry after a heavy shower with thunder.
accumulated thunder clouds passing slowly away to the south East. Very bright and hot. All the foliage
sparkling with the wet
• Howard stated “Some thunder around noon: heavy showers”
• Other weather data agrees• 54 weather inscriptions have
survived• Possible to use weather evidence to
date 15 studies
New Constable Sky
Turner The Fighting ‘Temeraire’ 1838
David Cox Sun, Wind, and Rain (Watercolour) 1845
David Cox Clouds 1857
Monet’s Mission in London
• ‘For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life, the air and the light, which vary continually…For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere that gives subjects their true value.’
• “L’enveloppe”• “Instantanaity”
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
Brixton
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Days of Fog
Year
Figure 1 Days with Fog in London at Brixton and West Norwood 1878-1903
Brixton
W. Norwood
Figure 3 Visibility in the 35 Charing Cross Bridge PicturesMean = 1127m
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
Vis
ibil
ity
in m
etr
es
Series1
N
WO
Z
N
WO
Z
How often can we see the sun setting over the Houses of Parliament?? Probably only on average once a week – less in winter 1900??
W1572 Sun azimuth 121.7°altitude +7.99°
114° 119° 121.7° 125.5°
+2.33°
-0.37°
+7.99°
-4.23°
W1572: ‘Waterloo Bridge, le soleil dans le brouillard’ (the sun in the fog) London : Private Collection, 73 x 92 cm
Range of possible dates: February 15th – February 19th at 8:14 – 8:17am
Non-representational/ Performative Atmospheric Art
Walter De MariaThe Lightning Field 1977
Olafur Eliasson 2003The Weather Project
James Turrell Skyspace 2006
CULTURAL CLIMATOLOGY
• Ruskin stated that:• ..the scientific and imaginative study
of clouds, weather and climate cannot be divorced from the issues of society.
• We can all still learn from Ruskin’s call that sustainable art is dialectically linked to a sustainable environment