Before Modern Weather Stations: The Moravian Brethren’s 18th-Century Climate Records from Labrador/Nunatsiavut and Southwestern Greenland

Abstract

Within the framework of the project “Reconstructions of Climatic and Bioclimatic Conditions in Greenland and Labrador/Nunatsiavut ca. 1770–1939 from Moravian Missionary Observations (MORCLIM),” extensive archival investigations were carried out in several Moravian repositories throughout Europe and North America. These included the Moravian Church House in London, the Unity Archives – Moravian Archives Herrnhut in Germany, and the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, USA. Additional archives and library collections likely to preserve early instrumental weather measurements from stations in southwestern Greenland and Labrador were also examined.

During this exploratory stage, thousands of digital images were taken of handwritten documents containing original instrumental observations and descriptive weather records. Published summaries of meteorological data from 18th- and 19th-century scientific literature were also identified. A substantial portion of these materials, including records of air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and wind characteristics, has already been digitized, quality-checked, and released through the open-access repository of the Centre for Climate Change Research.

The earliest identified series for southwestern Greenland and Labrador originate in the 18th century. In many locations, systematic observations continued after the Moravian missions ended, maintained during the 19th and 20th centuries by the national meteorological services of Denmark, Germany, and Canada. This paper provides a comprehensive catalogue of all archival sources collected so far that contain early instrumental meteorological measurements for coastal Labrador and southwestern Greenland from the 18th to the early 20th century. It evaluates their chronological extent, interruptions in recording, measured variables and temporal resolution, and key metadata including observation techniques, instruments, personnel, and related contextual details.