Weather imaginaries

Jean de Pomereu

The exploration of Indlandsis: a cultural and scientific history of ice sheets to 1970

September 2009 start (part-time). University of Exeter: PI Dr Simon Naylor.

Jean's project was an in-depth study of the historic visual geographies of the cryosphere as recorded by British exploration.

Public perceptions of climate change are strongly configured around extreme weather events often located in remote polar or mountainous regions. Historically expeditions to these sites brought back increasing amounts of scientific information and laid the groundwork for the science of glaciology and broader understandings of the global climate system. While the history of 19th and 20th century British exploration is well documented, the representation of cold spaces has never been considered in terms of the climate knowledge that was generated.

A printed copy of this thesis is available for consultation in the Foyle Reading Room (reference only). An electronic copy may be ordered through the British Library's e-theses online service.