Atmospheric Variability and Climatic Determinism

Abstract

Atmospheric Variability and Climatic Determinism H. E. Landsberg* Agréât deal has been written in the biometeorological literature about effects of atmospheric changes on human beings. These, expressed in one form or another, have been related to outbreaks of disease, courses of illness, incidence of death. They also have been claimed as an essential element in mental stimulation and cultural development. The late William E Petersen characterized the barometric variability over the North American continent as the "footprint of Asclepius ." To him the concentration of the great storm tracks along the northern border of the United States was a portrayal of the areas of maximal meteorological demand on the organism. The chart of a single year served him as corollary evidence: "Mean barometric variability for 50 stations for the year 1930."1 Other authors have stressed meteorological variability, expressed in temperature changes, as an important health and productivity factor. Huntington expressed it as follows: "Uniformity of temperature causes low energy." "Days when there is no change of temperature are not particularly favorable . . . ." "It seems most significant that the Connecticut men . . . are most stimulated by a strong change of temperature." * Director of the Office of Climatology of the U. S. Weather Bureau until 1968, Dr. Landsberg is now at the Institute for Fluid Dynamics and Applied Mathematics, University of Maryland, College Park, Md., 20742. 1 W. F. Petersen, The Patient and the Weather, Vol. I, Pt. 1 (Ann Arbor, 1935), fig. 3, p. 28. 13 14ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC COAST GEOGRAPHERS "The outstanding point is that changes of temperature, provided they are not too great, are more stimulating than uniformity."2 These dicta are part of the doctrine of climatic determinism, among whose strong apostles we can also count Olbricht, Markham, and Mills.3 Blumenstock appraised this work in his own careful way, as follows: Ellsworth Huntington, Clarence A. Mills, S. E Markham, and scores of others have studied at length and in devious ways the effects of temperature on mental activity. Unfortunately, definite conclusions in this speculative field are almost impossible to come by. Yet it is equally impossible to discount entirely the effects of temperature on mental activity. To persons raised in areas such as the central or northeast united States, briskly cold weather does seem to be stimulating, while hot, muggy weather is debilitating and tends to inhibit both mental and physical activity. The changeability of the weather in these regions is thought by many inhabitants to be stimulating, while if such persons move to the rainy tropics they find the weather monotonously depressing. The effects of weather on mental activity require further study, which must include consideration of differences in cultural conditioning from one group of people to another.4 It is perhaps best to back away from the conclusions for a moment and look again at some of the basic facts. Primary among these is the meteorological variability itself. As pointed out above, Petersen took a single year's sample of barometric variability. Similarly, few systematic studies of temperature variability exist. 2 E. Huntington, Civilization and Climate, 3rd ed. (New Haven, 1924), pp. 223226 . See also E. Huntington, Mainsprings of Civilization (New York, 1945), pp. 245249 , 339-342, 389-392. 3K. Olbricht, Klima und Entwicklung (Jena, 1923); S. F. Markham, Climate and the Energy of Nations (New York: Oxford University Press, 1947); and C. A. Mills, World Power Amid Shifting Climates ( Boston, 1963 ) . 4D. I. Blumenstock, The Ocean of the Air (New Brunswick, N. J., 1959), pp. 264-265. VOLUME 30 1 YEARBOOK / 196815 Interdiurnal Changes For some biometeorological purposes the variability of the meteorological elements from day to day is probably a rather satisfactory measure. Usually chosen is the interdiurnal change, i.e., the differences between two successive calendar days. These reflect the aperiodic fluctuations quite well. Here we make, of course, the assumption that the body is adapted to the periodic change or, if this reaches into extremes either way, that artificial devices truncate these to tolerable proportions. Even in primitive societies shelter, shade, and clothing afford some protection. The interdiurnal variability has thus become a measure of climatic stress. The frequency distribution of interdiurnal changes stabilizes rapidly, so that means and standard deviations become...