Year 1850-1899

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1851: Jakobshavn Isbræ in West Greenland reaches LIA maximum and begins to retreat  

Disko Bay and Jakobshavn Isbræ, a calving outlet glacier from the Greenland Ice Sheet, seen from southwest. Jakobshavn Isfjord and Jakobshavn Isbræ is seen near the centre of the picture. Disko Island is seen to the left, and part of the Greenland Ice Sheet is seen in the background. The distance from southernmost Disko Island to the mouth of the ice-filled Jakobshavn Isfjord (Ilulissat Icefjord) is about 100 km. Picture source: Google Earth.

 

The Disko Bay region in central West Greenland (c. 70oN) is characterised by large outlet glaciers from the Greenland Ice Sheet (the Indland Ice). The major glacier Jakobshavn Isbræ is situated in a major subglacial valley, which can be traced inland for about 100 km (Echelmeyer et al. 1991). The water depth in the fjord reaches 1500 m in its outer parts (Iken et al. 1993). 

The first thorough glaciological studies in this area were those by Rink (1853), who introduced the terms Inland Ice and ice streams. The Disko Bay was deglaciated rapidly around 10.500-10.000 years ago, in the early part of the present interglacial (Weidick 1968). When the retreating ice front reached the coastline at the mouth of the Jakobshavn Isfjord (Ilulissat Icefjord), the retreat was interrupted while the glacier front was resting on a bank near Ilulissat 200-300 m below the present sea level. Later, the glacier again retreated, and reached the modern position c. 7.000 years ago. The retreat, however, continued, and by 5.000  years before now the glacier front was east of the modern position, about 20 km east of the ice margin position in 1964 (Weidick et al. 1990).

Global cooling after 5.000 year before now resulted in significant growth of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and the resulting advance of Jakobshavn Isbræ culminated around the year 1850, during the Little Ice Age (se frontal position in the figure below). From 1851 the calving glacier began retreating, and at the end of the 19th century the glacier front was about 10 km east of the maximum position reached in 1851 (Bauer et al. 1968). The seasonal fluctuations of the glacier terminus were recorded 1879-1880 by Hammer (1883), who also described local inuit legends that the glacier-filled embayment Tissarissoq (see figure below) formerly was ice-free and used as a hunting locality. If this is correct, open water probably extented east of the early 21st century glacier front position before the onset of the Little Ice Age (Weidick et al. 2004).

Jakobshavn Isbræ is the main outlet glacier from the Greenland Ice Sheet, draining ice from about 6.5% of the total area of the ice sheet, and producing 30-45 km3 icebergs per year. This corresponds to more than 10% of the total output of icebergs from the Greenland Ice Sheet, and the Jakobshavn Isbræ is the most productive glacier in the northern hemisphere. The glacier flow velocity is also high, typically 20-22 meters per day. It is likely that the iceberg which sank Titanic in 1912 may have been produced by Jakobshavn Isbræ.

 

Frontal positions of calving Jakobshavn Isbræ in the latter half of the 19th century, after reaching the maximum Little Ice Age position around 1850 (Bauer et al. 1968). Between 1851 and 1893 the glacier front retreated about 10 km. The early 21st century (2001) glacier front is seen about 14 km east of the 1893 position. According to inuit legends, the embayment Tissarissoq used to be glacier-free and was used as hunting area (Hammer 1883), most likely before before the Little Ice Age glacier advance (Weidick et al. 2004). Picture source: Google Earth.

 

A note describing the retreat of Jakobshavn Isbræ 1893-1942 can be found here. A description of the glacier retreat in the early 21st century is found here.

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1854: The Crimean War, beginning of systematic meteorological observations  

The Crimean War (1853–1856) was fought between Imperial Russia on one side and an alliance of France, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire on the other. The chain of events leading to Britain and France declaring war on Russia on 28 March 1854 can be traced to a fierce disagreement of whom was going to have "sovereign authority" in the Holy Land.

The fall of Sebastopol September 1855, after a year-long siege by the French and British fleets.

 

In April 1854 allied troops landed in the Crimea and besieged the city of Sebastopol, home of the Tsar's fleet. During the siege, in November 1854, a major part of the French-English fleet was destroyed in the Black Sea by an unexpected storm. By later collecting local weather reports, the track of this storm could be followed across Europe all the way to the Black Sea. The French astronomer Leverrier was then given the responsibility to investigate if it was possible to forecast such weather events in the future. With great difficulties, these developments lead to the first network of meteorological stations in France, sending information on local weather to a central weather office in Paris. From 1863 the first real daily weather maps showing pressure differences were produced for western Europe by this office. Within few years most nations in Europe and USA followed suit. By this, the time around 1870-1875 marks the beginning of widespread, systematic meteorological observations in Europe, USA, Greenland and Iceland.

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1876: The Merchant Shipping Act and the Plimsoll Sensation  

Ship in storm of the south coast of England around 1870 (left). The Plimsoll markings on ships; the long-awaited load line for different oceanographic conditions (centre). Samuel Plimsoll (right).

 

During the 19th century, British trade with the rest of the world was growing rapidly. The large number of ships being wrecked each year caused greater and greater concern. For example, in the year 1873-4, 411 ships sank around the British coast, with the loss of 506 lives. Between 1830 and 1900 about 70 percent of all sailing ships of the Tyne in England were lost a sea. During those same years one out of every five English mariners who embarked on a life at sea also died at sea (Jones 2006). Overloading and poor maintenance made some ships so dangerous that they became known as 'coffin ships', especially as gales and storms were frequent during the Little Ice Age.

By the 1870 Merchant Shipping Act in England sailors could be imprisoned for three months for breach of contract if they refused to board an unseaworthy ship once they had signed up for a voyage. Between 1870 and 1872, 1628 sailors were sent to jail in Great Britain for refusing to go to sea in ships they thought were unseaworthy.

In 1870, Samuel Plimsoll MP, who was a coal merchant, became interested in the subject. He began to write a book about the disastrous effects of overloading ships without respect to bad weather. When he began to investigate, Plimsoll found the problem was even worse than he had expected. He began to campaign in parliament with the aim of improving safety at sea. Many ordinary people became interested in his book and his campaign. In 1872, a Royal Commission on Un-seaworthy Ships was set up to look at evidence and recommend changes. Plimsoll was, however, defeated several times in parliament and ridiculed in public. Especially many ship owners were reluctant toward introducing regulations of ship loading.

Friday 10 February 1871 a storm blew up in the Channel and in the North Sea. Many ships went down because they were to heavy loaded to ride the waves, and many sailors lost their lives. There was a public outcry in Great Britain following this disaster. For Samuel Plimsoller (MP) this particular storm became the tipping point for public opinion.

On 12 August 1876, after years of negotiations in the English parliament a new Merchant Shipping Act was passed  with the Lord's amendments (Jones 2006). The Art had 45 clauses. No 26 was ground-breaking: it made a load line on every ship compulsory. Thereby the storm of 10 February 1871 and the long work by Samuel Plimsoller established the famous symbol, of a circle, twelve inches in diameter, with a line through the middle, which popularly took Plimsoll's name.

The Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 made load lines compulsory, but the position of the line in the ship hull was not fixed by law until 1894. In 1906, foreign ships were also required to carry a load line if they visited British ports. Since then, the line has been known in the U.K. as the Plimsoll Line. To this day, it still carries the name of the MP who fought such a long struggle in parliament to win better safety conditions for ships crews.

Even in modern times, whenever controversies generating strong feelings arise, references are made and analogies drawn to the Plimsoll case.

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1879: The Tay Rail Bridge disaster in Scotland  

A deep depression with strong winds (Beaufort force 10-11) was passing across Scotland 28 December 1879. On the backside, the depression was accompanied by very strong W and NW winds. At 7:15 p.m. on the stormy evening the express train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen was crossing the celebrated Tay Rail Bridge, shortly before stopping at the main railroad station in Dundee. Just at the train was passing the central spans of the bridge the whole bridge structure collapsed into the Firth of Tay, taking the whole train with it into the water below. All 75 people on the train lost their lives. The Tay Rail Bridge was completed just 19 months before (February 1878), had no less than 85 spans, and was with a total length of 3.5 km the longest bridge in the world at that time. Thomas Bouch was responsible for the design and construction, and was knighted at the successful completion of the bridge.

The Tai Rail Bridge disaster 28 December 1879, as documented by contemporary a contemporary newspaper. The old photograph to the right shows the central box-shaped section of the bridge lying on a sandbank in the river. The entire train, with the exception of the second-class carriage and the van, was contained within this section, explaining why nobody managed to escape drowning.

 

Today there is still speculation as to the exact cause for the disaster, even though the sheer force of the wind is seen as the fundamental cause (Burt 2004). One theory suggests that the bridge was not designed to withstand the strong winds experienced in the evening of 28 December 1879, while another theory suggests that the train actually was lifted by the winds like the wing of an aeroplane, thereby colliding with and fatally damaging vital parts of the bridge structure. More information on this storm-related disaster can be found by clicking here and here.

   

The new Tay Rail Bridge January 6th, 2008, looking SW. The old pier remains of the old bridge is seen below the modern bridge and provide a grim reminder of the 1879 disaster.

 

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1879-1881: USS Jeannette sails for the North Pole  

USS Jeannette (left). Map showing the trek to the Siberian coast from the point where USS Jeannette was crushed by ice (centre). Lieutenant Commander George W. DeLong, USN (right).

 

The 43 m long USS Jeannette was originally a gunboat (HMS Pandora) in the British Royal Navy. In 1878 it was purchased by the owner of the New York Herald (James Gordon Bennett, Jr.), and renamed Jeannette. Bennett was interested in the Arctic and the still existing notion of the ice-free central part of the Arctic Ocean. He obtained the cooperation and assistance of the US government for an expedition to the North Pole through the Bering Strait, using Jeannette.

The Jeannette was modified and massively reinforced to allow her to navigate in the Arctic pack ice. Lieutenant Commander George W. DeLong, USN, who had considerable Arctic experience, was given the command. The crew consisted of 30 officers and men and 3 civilians. The ship contained the latest in scientific equipment; and, in addition to reaching the Pole through Bering Strait, scientific observation ranked high among the expedition's list of goals.

Bound for the North Pole, Jeannette departed San Francisco July 8, 1879. Early September she was caught in the pack ice near Wrangel Island, north of Sibiria. For the next 21 months she drifted with the ice to the northwest, slowly approaching the North Pole, but without encountering an ice-free ocean.

On 12 June 1881 the sea ice began crushing the ship, forcing DeLong and his men to unload provisions and equipment onto the ice pack. USS Jeannette sank the following morning. The expedition then started off for the Lena Delta on the Siberian mainland, hauling three boats and supplies. Mid September they reached open water and sailed toward the mainland. A storm blew up and one of the boats capsized and sank. The other two, commanded by DeLong and his Chief Engineer G.W. Melville survived the storm and landed at separated points on the coast of the Lena Delta.

The two seperated parties began the long march inland over the swampy and half-frozen delta, hoping to find settlements. One by one, however, members of DeLong's group died from starvation and exposure. Finally DeLong sent his two strongest men ahead alone for help. They eventually managed to find a settlement, but DeLong and the remaining men died before rescue arrived. The other group under Melville was more lucky and relatively rapid found a native village on the other side of the delta and were all rescued.

In the summer of 1884 wreckage from the Jeannette was found on sea ice floes near the southern end of Greenland . This was perhaps one of the most important scientific outcomes of the Jeannette expedition, and overnight made the notion of the ice-free central part of the Arctic Ocean impossible. Had the ocean not been entirely covered by ice, the wreckage would have sunk long time before reaching southern Greenland. This new insight prompted the Norwegian scientist Fridtjof Nansen to hypothesize that the ice of the Arctic Ocean was in constant motion from the Siberian coast towards East Greenland . To test this hypothesis, Nansen planned the famous Fram expedition, with drift across the Arctic Ocean .

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1883: The Krakatau volcanic eruption  

The explosive Krakatau eruption in Indonesia 27 May 1883 released huge amounts of ash into the atmosphere, giving rise to spectacular sunrise and sunset phenomena for a couple of years. Several painters have recorded this effect in their artwork.

 

Painting of the Krakatau eruption 27 May 1883 (left). Oil painting 'Sunset' by Thames 23 Nobember 1883 (centre). The painting 'Skrik' (the Scream) 1893 by Edvard Munch (right). The dramatic skyline in this painting is thought to have been inspired by the global optical effects caused by the 1883 Krakatau eruption as seen over Oslofjord in the years thereafter.

 

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1884: Glacier Vernagtferner in Austria begins to retreat from its Little Ice Age maximum position  

Vernagtferner (right) and Guslarferner (left) on 24 August 1884 (left part of illustration). Photo taken by Würthle and Son, from almost the same position as the 1844 water color by Thomas Ender, only a little higer up the valley side. Notice the clearly visible moraines on either side of the valley, above and in front of the glaciers. These moraines were formed during the 1844-48 advance. The right part of the illustration is an overview satellite picture showing Vernagtferner in 2007. The yellow arrow indicate the direction of view in the 1884 photo. Picture source: Google Earth.

 

Richter (1885) visited Vernagtferner in the summer of 1883, and used this occation to arrange for an early photograph of the glacier next year. This unique old photo was obtained on 24 August 1884 by Würthle and Son. Richter at the same time was seeking support for a precise mapping of the glacier from Deutscher and Österreicher Alpenverein. S. Finsterwalder directed the production of this very first photogrammetric map of the Vernagtferner in the years 1888 and 1889. This initiative resulted in continuous observation of the glacier ever since.

The 1844-48 advance of Vernagtferner was the last time that Vernagtferner reached and blocked the main valley Rofental. Since 1848 the glacier dynamics have been dominated by frontal retreat, interrupted by small readvances only. The present (early 21st century) retreat thus represents a continuation of a general development initiated around 160 years ago.

Click here, here, here and here to read about previous Little Ice Age advances of the Vernagtferner. Click here and here to read about the following glacier retreat during the warming period after the Little Ice Age.

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