Maria de Fátima Nunes

Monthly mean pressure reconstruction for the Late Maunder Minimum Period (AD 1675–1715)

The Late Maunder Minimum (LMM; 1675-1715) delineates a period with marked climate variability within the Little Ice Age in Europe. Gridded monthly mean surface pressure fields were reconstructed for this period for the eastern North Atlantic-European region (25°W-30°E and 35-70°N). These were based on continuous information drawn from proxy and instrumental data taken from several European data sites. The data include indexed temperature and rainfall values, sea ice conditions from northern Iceland and the Western Baltic. In addition, limited instrumental data, such as air temperature from central England (CET) and Paris, reduced mean sea level pressure (SLP) at Paris, and monthly mean wind direction in the Oresund (Denmark) are used. The reconstructions are based on a canonical correlation analysis (CCA), with the standardized station data as predictors and the SLP pressure fields as predictand. The CCA-based model was performed using data from the twentieth century. The period 1901-1960 was used to calibrate the statistical model, and the remaining 30 years (1961-1990) for the validation of the reconstructed monthly pressure fields. Assuming stationarity of the statistical relationships, the calibrated CCA model was then used to predict the monthly LMM SLP fields. The verification results illustrated that the regression equations developed for the majority of grid points contain good predictive skill. Nevertheless, there are seasonal and geographical limitations for which valid spatial SLP patterns can be reconstructed. Backward elimination techniques indicated that Paris station air pressure and temperature, CET, and the wind direction in the Oresund are the most important predictors, together sharing more than 65% of the total variance. The reconstructions are compared with additional data and subjectively reconstructed monthly pressure charts for the years 1675-1704. It is shown that there are differences between the two approaches. However, for extreme years the reconstructions are in good agreement.

Temperature and precipitation reconstruction in southern Portugal during the late Maunder Minimum (AD 1675–1715):

This paper discusses the research carried out to check the climatic characteristics of the late Maunder Minimum (LMM) (AD 1675–1715) in the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula and as an aid towards pressure patterns reconstruction in the NE Atlantic and Europe. Documentary evidence reveals that interannual precipitation variability was similar to the present one, although some very severe dry periods occurred (particularly one in 1694). On the other hand, during the LMM there was a higher percentage of cold winter months, some of them with snowfall. A brief comparison is made with other areas from the Mediterranean. The relationships between weather similarities and differences for particular months is analysed in the light of the reconstructed synoptical patterns, and further research into historical climatic change of southern Europe is suggested.

Climate Change in the Mediterranean over the Last Five Hundred Years

Global Warming (GW) is expected to affect the Mediterranean area with three major challenges, i.e. increase in temperature, decrease in precipitation and sea level rise that will likely submerge the coastal areas, including Venice. Aim of this Chapter is to discuss the expected changes under the light of long-term observations. Documentary proxies and instrumental readings in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy have been recovered and analysed. These observations cover the last five centuries from the Little Ice Age (LIA) to the present-day GW. This Chapter is based on documentary proxies and instrumental series collected over the Mediterranean area, i.e. Portugal, Spain, France and Italy (Fig.1) within the EU funded ADVICE, IMPROVE, MILLENNIUM, and Climate for Culture projects. A huge effort was made to seek for written sources and original logs with early and less recent instrumental readings. The next steps were to recover, correct, adjust to modern standards, homogenize and analyse the earliest data and most of the longest European series. The detailed study of the history of the series (e.g. instrument type, calibration, observational methodology, sampling time, exposure, location) and the recovery of any related metadata were fundamental to apply and perform the due corrections to the series. The methodology was presented in previous papers (Camuffo and Jones, 2002, Camuffo et al. 2010a)

Práticas científicas e colonialismo tardio em Portugal: acerca da (in)visibilidade de género em narrativas sobre quotidianos asiáticos

Este artigo explora relacoes entre genero, pratica cientifica e representacoes do espaco entre academicos portugueses que trabalham na Asia. O foco empirico e colocado na analise da pratica cientifica de uma cientista social, Graciete Batalha, com vista a discutir o seu trabalho em comparacao com outras narrativas academicas suas contemporâneas. No verao de 1974, a linguista Graciete Batalha viaja para a cidade de Malaca (Malasia) numa missao cientifica de aplicacao de um inquerito linguistico a uma populacao local, a qual e caracterizada como tendo origem portuguesa. Argumentamos que o trabalho dessa linguista se posiciona numa transicao entre dois diferentes modos de producao de conhecimento, o colonial e o pos-colonial.

Scientific Practices and Late Colonialism in Portugal: on Gender (In)visibility in Daily-life narratives on Asia

Este artigo explora relacoes entre genero, pratica cientifica e representacoes do espaco entre academicos portugueses que trabalham na Asia. O foco empirico e colocado na analise da pratica cientifica de uma cientista social, Graciete Batalha, com vista a discutir o seu trabalho em comparacao com outras narrativas academicas suas contemporâneas. No verao de 1974, a linguista Graciete Batalha viaja para a cidade de Malaca (Malasia) numa missao cientifica de aplicacao de um inquerito linguistico a uma populacao local, a qual e caracterizada como tendo origem portuguesa. Argumentamos que o trabalho dessa linguista se posiciona numa transicao entre dois diferentes modos de producao de conhecimento, o colonial e o pos-colonial.

Práticas científicas e colonialismo tardio em Portugal

Este artigo explora relacoes entre genero, pratica cientifica e representacoes do espaco entre academicos portugueses que trabalham na Asia. O foco empirico e colocado na analise da pratica cientifica de uma cientista social, Graciete Batalha, com vista a discutir o seu trabalho em comparacao com outras narrativas academicas suas contemporâneas. No verao de 1974, a linguista Graciete Batalha viaja para a cidade de Malaca (Malasia) numa missao cientifica de aplicacao de um inquerito linguistico a uma populacao local, a qual e caracterizada como tendo origem portuguesa. Argumentamos que o trabalho dessa linguista se posiciona numa transicao entre dois diferentes modos de producao de conhecimento, o colonial e o pos-colonial.

Couto Mineiro do Lena: uma história de estratégia empresarial (1925-1956)

Res_por:O carvao da regiao de Batalha – Porto de Mos, proporcionou entre 1855 e 1954, o estabelecimento de uma industria extrativa, que ganhou expressao a partir da I Guerra Mundial e, sobretudo, com o movimento industrialista que, entre finais da decada de vinte e a II Guerra, visava corresponder aos designios governamentais de autossuficiencia, fornecendo combustivel a industrias de base e abrindo-se estrategicamente aos transportes e energia. O presente estudo, alicercado num acervo documental menos utilizado, a partir de um focus de recorte geografico e no contexto dos governos da ditadura, reabilita um caso de memoria historica regional que a teia do tempo havia feito desaparecer das agendas de investigacao.