Documentary sources to study the climate in the far south region of Chile (40º - 51º S) during the last centuries

Abstract

Given the importance that climatologic studies have acquired in the last few years, plus the need to find new sources that allow creating a registry ever more complete and integrated about the climate in the past, complementing what is already being done through the study of tree rings, ice cores and lake sediments, it has been considered that historic documentation, generated since the arrival of the Spaniards to the south American continent, can provide valuable information about diverse meteorological phenomena, allowing for the creation of longer temporary registries about such events. Hence this work describes and analyzes the main documentary sources for the reconstruction of the climate in the southern region of Chile (40 to 51º S) during the last 450 years; accounting for the way they were generated, the type of information they can provide and the places where they are conserved. The climatic registries come from chronicles, travelers' accounts, reports from the authorities of local governments, naturalists and scientists, among others, that have been conserved and published in public archives, newspapers and magazines; as well as antique maps, photographs, paintings and other more recent graphic formats. This investigation was part of a series of interdisciplinary projects whose objective was to study the environmental history and the climate changes occurred in that region from different paleoclimatic perspectives, such as dendrochronology and glaciology.