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The hidden role of women in monitoring nineteenth-century African weather: Instrumental observations in equatorial guinea

Abstract:

The hidden role of women in monitoring Nineteenth-century African Weather is discussed. Many network-based meteorological stations were established in the late nineteenth century, partly in response to the deliberations of the Vienna Meteorological Congress held in 1873. One month after their wedding, the Iradier-Urquiola couple and Juliana were leaving Vitoria course to Africa. Their first stop was the Canary Islands, where they stayed a few months adapting to the tropical climate and testing the instruments for their scientific investigations. A 16-point compass was used to determine wind direction, and wind speed was measured with an anemometer also constructed by Iradier. The anemometer consisted of a vertical rod with four horizontal arms attached to four zinc hemispheres. In Equatorial Guinea, other observers recorded measurements of meteorological variables in the nineteenth century. The observations of these authors present many differences with those of the Urquiola sisters.