Some of the earliest meteorological observations conducted in the Arctic were made by the Moravian Brothers in the late 19th century on the northeast coast of the Labrador Peninsula. They conducted religious missions during which they made weather observations in towns such as Rama, Hebron, Okak, Nain, Zoar, and Hopedale.
The start and end dates of each observation differed, so a specific period was selected during which observations were made simultaneously at all six stations. The period chosen was from January 1884 to December 1889, with measurements taken at 14:00 LT (Local Time). The focus was on information on air temperature (°C) and wind direction and force (0-12). Historical data were quality-checked and corrected. Wind speed was converted to m∙s-1 using the Beaufort scale based on Table 2 from Wallbrink and Koek (2009).
Two indices were used to assess bioclimatic conditions: Wind Chill Temperature (WCT) and Insulation Predicted (Iclp). The Bioklima software (www.igipz.pan.pl/geoekoklimat/blaz/BioKlima.htm) was used for this purpose. Before calculating the indices, the wind speed was reduced to 1.2 m above ground level, corresponding to the average human chest height.
Source of data:
Climate Data from the Overseas Stations of the Deutsche Seewarte (German Marine Observatory) in Canada. Deutscher Wetterdienst (2022) https://www.dwd.de/EN/ourservices/overseas_stations/overseas_documentation/data.html?lsbId=571386
Abbreviations:
WCT - Wind Chill Temperature
Iclp - Insulation Predicted
NaN – lack of data
References:
BioKlima 2.6 software package (2024) https://www.igipz.pan.pl/BioKlima.html, Accessed 30 Apr 2026
Wallbrink H, Koek FB (2009) Historical wind speed equivalents of the Beaufort scale, 1850–1950. Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut (https://cdn.knmi.nl/knmi/pdf/bibliotheek/knmipubDIV/HISKLIM/HISKLIM_13.pdf )
