The First Air-Temperature Measurements for the Purposes of Battlefield Operations?

Abstract

Close to the end of the severe winter 1808/09, a Russian force crossed the ice-bound Gulf of Bothnia from Finland to Sweden with the purpose of forcing Sweden to desist from taking sides with Great Britain against Napoléon. General major von Berg, one of the commanders of the force, took meteorological observations, including air-temperature measurements, during the crossing, a record of which he left behind in a journal. These air-temperature measurements appear to be the first of their kind in the history of land-based military forces. In the discussion of the meteorological conditions of the above-mentioned harsh winter, use is made of unpublished meteorological measurements at Umcaå, Sweden, and at Ylitomio (Över-Torneå), Finland. The latter were conducted by Johan Portin, a pioneer of meteorological observations near the Arctic Circle.