An Invaluable Resource For Climate History
This is the first comprehensive climatological atlas for the Russian Empire, including Siberia and European Russia in 1900. It was produced in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding, by Emperor Nicholas I, of the Main Physical Observatory at the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers, which served to compile the scattered meteorological observations already being done throughout the empire. This work was first compiled into a volume by K.S. Veselovsky tilted (translated) "On the Climate of Russia", which was published in 1857.
The atlas comprises eighty-nine large meteorological maps, together with fifteen graphical tables, which give the best presentation hitherto published of the main features of the climates of the great Eurasian Empire of Russia. The maps are titled in Russian and French, reflecting the long history of a scientific partnership between the two countries dating back to the 18th century.
The maps and data will be of particular interest to modern climate scientists, especially those looking for historical data on the huge portion of land area covered by Russia. The maps cover air flow, temperature, precipitation, and many other themes related to climate. Many of the themes are presented in a sequence of monthly maps where the measurements for each month are rendered as isotherms.
Maps
- Atmospheric pressure and resultant winds (for the year and for each month) 1-13
- Air temperature (for the year and for each month) 14-26
Amplitudes of those air according to monthly averages (July-January) 27
Absolute highest and lowest temperatures and absolute amplitudes 28-30 - Absolute and relative humidity (for a year and for each month) 31-56
- Precipitation (year and 4 seasons) 57-61
Time of occurrence of maximum and minimum of precipitation 62-63 - Pure days with precipitation (per year and for 4 seasons) 64-68
Time of occurrence of maximum and minimum number of days with precipitation 69-70 - Cloudiness (per year and per season) 71-75
Number of clear and cloudy days 76-77
Time of onset of the greatest and least cloudiness 78-79 - Thawing and freezing and the duration of the ice cover 80-82
- Number of days with snow cover 83
- Number of days with thunderstorms 84
- Cyclone paths 85
- Weather types 86-89
The graphs include coverage of average daily temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, etc.
Provenance
This atlas was part of the CIA reference library until being deaccessioned to the Library of Congress and thence sold as a duplicate.
Rarity
This is not to be confused with a small, text-only volume, which might have served as an accompaniment to the present atlas. OCLC locates a handful of examples, though it is difficult to parse between the text sets and those with the atlas.