Abstracted/indexed

According to climate simulations, the Earth's atmosphere is warming up as a result of human emissions of greenhouse gases. But, a causality relationship between these emissions and temperatures has not been directly demonstrated. Over a period of 423 000 years, analyses of polar ice cores in fact show that CO₂ was not a cause, but an effect, of the the temperature changes recorded during cycles of glaciation–deglaciation. Hence, Milakovitch cycles are the only drivers of climate change.

This paper outlines the establishment of the Liverpool Tidal Institute in 1919. There is a particular focus on early patrons and supporters, in the context of both previous tidal research on the accuracy of predictions and debates about the involvement of state actors in science at the end of the First World War. It shows that industrial support was crucial to the early tidal institute, which adds to debates about patronage in the history of modern physical oceanography in Britain and beyond.

Researching, compiling and analysing geophysical ideas and measurements in historical periods will contribute to the historical development of earth science. Also, this is important for geophysicists working on time-dependent (historical) data and revealing the physical properties of the earth. This paper focuses on the earth and its sciences (with concepts, ideas and measurements) in classical Islamic science in the Ottoman Empire and the evolution of these thoughts and concepts.

Tides from the Moon and Sun change the force of gravity. Pendulum clocks that use pendula are affected by this, but the resulting time errors are less than a millisecond over a day. These errors were measured by a few precision pendulum clocks between 1929 (the first data showing tidal gravity signals) and 1985. This paper shows the original results of each measurement and also compares these with simulations using modern tidal models.

This paper examines how ionospheric physics emerged as a research speciality in Britain, Germany, and the United States in the first 4 decades of the 20th century. It argues that the formation of this discipline can be viewed as the confluence of four deep-rooted traditions in which scientists and engineers transformed, from within, research areas connected to radio wave propagation and geomagnetism.

With countless reports, few physical records, and no theory consensus, ball lightning remains an unsolved problem in atmospheric physics; 41 qualified observation abstracts (1868–2020) from eight countries are presented by a case investigator. Some were related to mountain, power line, aeroplane; two had medical effects. Six influential cases are added. High-quality report data stimulate further fieldwork and theories of the phenomenon. Scientific readers are invited to share unreported events.

The International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–1958 was one of the most significant scientific events of the 20th century that marked the beginning of the Space Age. IGY united efforts of scientists from 67 countries for comprehensive study of our planet. The scientific program included multidisciplinary activity on all the continents, in the oceans, in the air, and in space. This article gives a brief overview of the history of the IGY organization and its main achievements.

The early 20th century voyages of the Carnegie – a floating geophysical observatory – revealed the daily rhythm of atmospheric electricity. Combined with ideas from Nobel Prize winner C. T. R. Wilson, the Carnegie curve helped answer a fundamental question, from the time of Benjamin Franklin, about the origin of Earth's negative charge. The Carnegie curve still provides an importance reference variation, and the original data, explored further here, have new relevance to geophysical change.

Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) was one of the most eminent scientists of all time. He was born in Brunswick, and from 1807 until his death, he was director of the Göttingen Astronomical Observatory, where he made world-famous and lasting contributions. In his honour, and to preserve his memory, the Gauss Society was founded in Göttingen in 1962. The present paper aims to give nonspecialists a brief introduction into the life and works of Gauss and a brief history of the Gauss Society.

A historical review of the establishment of the Haldde Observatory in Bossekop, Kaafjord, Finnmark, in northern Norway is presented together with some of the scientific outcomes of the efforts and the aftermath of this enterprise that led to the establishment of the University of Tromsø in 1968 and finally the inauguration of the Haldde Observatory as a historic site by the European Physical Society in 2018.

From the perspective of the social history of science and transnational history, this paper reviews the development of the Institute of Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGCAS). The scientific development of IGCAS and typical examples in several branches of geophysics, which include atmospheric science, seismology, and space physics, are summarized. The experience and lessons in the development of this institute and its effect on geophysics in China are explored.

The historical development of the Geophysical Service of Austria, comprising the national geomagnetic, gravimetric and seismological services as well as the Applied Geophysics Section located at the Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG) in Vienna in Austria, is presented. Achievements, changes and challenges of the department from its modest beginning in 1851 until 2020 are described, including the Conrad Observatory.

In this text we examine the historical and cultural context of the Great Comet of 1577 from the perspective of Chaim Vital, who recorded his observation of the comet on the evening of 10 November 1577. This observation includes a description of a possible aurora, by noting the presence of a chasm in the sky. This kind of description is common in Western medieval accounts. In his Book of Visions, Vital only noted the event without interpretation, likely due to comets being considered ill omens.