professor john e thornes professor of applied meteorology university of birmingham cultural...

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

Antony GormleyAngel of the North 1998

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