A summer temperature bias in early alcohol thermometers

Dario Camuffo () and Antonio della Valle
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Dario Camuffo: Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC)
Antonio della Valle: Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC)

Climatic Change, 2016, vol. 138, issue 3, No 19, 633-640

Abstract: Abstract This paper analyses the response of alcohol thermometers in relation to the departure from linearity and the choice of the calibration points. The result is that alcohol thermometers are affected by large departures that reach a maximum (i.e. −6 °C) at 50 °C ambient temperature. This may have caused a severe bias in early records, when alcohol thermometers were popular, especially during the Little Ice Age. Choosing a lower temperature for the upper point, calibration may substantially reduce this bias. Examples are given with thermometers in use in the 17th and 18th centuries. A careful correction of long series is necessary to avoid misleading climate interpretations.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1007/s10584-016-1760-8

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