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History of Meteorology 
 

volume 4, 2008 
 
 

James Rodger Fleming 
 

Editor-in-Chief 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

History of Meteorology is the peer-reviewed journal of the ICHM 
 

© ICHM 2008 
 

ISSN 1555-5763 
 

 
 

Proceedings of the International Commission on History of Meteorology 



 Introduction, Call for Papers, and Style Guide ii 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 History of Meteorology 4 (2008)  iii 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Contents           pages 
 
 
Introduction, Call for Papers for volume 5 and Style Guide     iv-vi 
 
 
Donald A. Garden (Australia), 

El Niño, Irrigation Dams and Stopbanks: Examining the repercussions 
of the 1876-78 El Niño in Australia and New Zealand    1-26 

 
 
Adrian Howkins (USA),  

Political Meteorology: Weather, climate and the contest for Antarctic  
sovereignty, 1939-1959        27-40 

 
 
Matthias Dörries (France), 

The ‘Winter’ Analogy Fallacy: From superbombs to supervolcanoes   41-56 
 
 
Vladimir K. Zworykin, 

Outline of Weather Proposal, 1945 
(with historical introduction by James Fleming)     57-78 

 
 
 



 Introduction, Call for Papers, and Style Guide iv 
 

 
Introduction 
 

The fourth volume of History of Meteorology includes three articles by historians from 
three continents and a 1945 reprint from the archives about the possible use of computers in 
weather control.  Donald Garden examines the 1876-1878 El Niño in Australia and New Zealand 
and studies its effects from the perspective of environmental history.  He finds that the “event” 
was far from uniform, with significant spatial and temporal variations, and in some areas, 
especially in New Zealand, was accompanied by heavy rainfall and flooding rather than the 
expected drought conditions.  Adrian Howkins examines the political storm swirling around 
Antarctica as scientists tried to study the continent’s weather and politicians from Great Britain, 
Argentina, and Chile jockeyed for position and possible access to mineral resources between 
1939 and 1959.  He documents a dynamic interaction between science and politics based on 
existing rivalries and the rhetoric of international cooperation. Matthias Dörries connects the 
volcanic past with the nuclear present and the possibility of an apocalyptic future as he explores 
the loose analogy between ‘nuclear winter’ and ‘volcanic winter’—an analogy that reached the 
general public without much scrutiny, debate or substantiation.  Finally, Vladimir K. Zworykin’s 
“Outline of Weather Control” issued by the Radio Corporation of America in 1945 and reprinted 
here provides source material that both predates and transcends the better-known story of cloud 
seeding with dry ice and silver iodide at General Electric and complements the oft-told story of 
numerical weather prediction by emphasizing—as Zworykin did—weather control. 

The ICHM is the same age as the 21st century.  It is in good hands under the leadership of 
president Cornelia Lüdecke, vice-president Vladimir Jankovic, secretary-treasurer Doria Grimes, 
and web master Roger Turner.  Please browse the homepage http://www.meteohistory.org for 
announcements and other links, and consider joining us in pursuit of “scholarship and 
friendship” in the history of meteorology, climatology, and related sciences.  The next large 
gathering of the ICHM will be at the International Congress of History of Science and 
Technology in Budapest, Hungary in July 2009 where there will be two symposia related to 
weather and climate: (1) Visual Languages and Representations of the Sky: Frameworks and 
focal points in social context and (2) New Perspectives on the Rise of Climate Science.  I hope to 
see you there. 

 
 

 
 
James R. Fleming 
China, Maine 

 



 History of Meteorology 4 (2008)  v 
 

History of Meteorology 
 
CALL FOR PAPERS 
 
Papers on the history of meteorology, climatology, and related sciences are now being accepted 
for consideration in History of Meteorology 5, to be edited by Samuel Randalls.  Articles should 
be based on original research and present a novel thesis.  They must be engaging, clearly written, 
and fully documented, following the style guide below.  All papers will be subject to peer 
review.  Authors are reminded that international and interdisciplinary perspectives are 
encouraged and articles should engage social, cultural, and/or intellectual themes and contexts.  
Because this is an electronic journal, it is possible to publish color illustrations and experiment 
with alternative media such as audio and video files and databases.  Session conveners are 
invited to propose special sections or issues of the journal. 
 
History of Meteorology has a stable URL at http://meteohistory.org and has been assigned ISSN 
1555-5763 by the U.S. Library of Congress.  It is currently being indexed by two leading 
services: Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science (from which citations are posted 
online on the RLG History of Science and Technology database) and Meteorological and 
Geoastrophysical Abstracts. 
 
The submission deadline for volume five is 1 October 2009, but earlier notice is appreciated.  
Queries or manuscripts should be directed to the guest editor, Samuel Randalls, e-mail 
s.randalls@ucl.ac.uk 
 
 



 Introduction, Call for Papers, and Style Guide vi 
 

STYLE GUIDE 
 
Manuscripts for History of Meteorology are to be submitted electronically to the editor in MS 
Word format (please ask in advance about other formats).  Before publication, authors must 
certify that their work is original and that all necessary permissions have been acquired. 
 
Format 
 
Paper size:   U.S. Letter 
Margins:   1.0 inch on all sides 
Headers and footers: 0.5 inch (left blank except for preliminary pagination) 
Line spacing:   double 
Font:   text: 12 point Times New Roman; captions: 11 point Times New Roman 
Section headers: Use of bold section headers is encouraged 
Paper length:  Less than 10,000 words, including citations. 
   Ask if your manuscript is longer than this. 
 
Figures and Tables 
 
Figures must be provided as separate image files (jpeg or tiff) with a resolution of at least 150 
dpi.  Both figures and tables must be mentioned in the text (e.g. Fig. 1) before their appearance in 
the paper. Figure captions appear below the figure in 11-point type with a hanging indent: 
 

Fig. 1. Caption descriptive of the image but does not repeat what was said in the text of 
the paper. Image courtesy of (or by permission of) XXX. 

 
Tables must be carefully formatted in advance by the author.  Titles appear above the table in 11-
point type: 
 

Table 1. Title of table (handing indent if it is a long title). 
 
Citations 
 
Citations may be either Endnotes, numbered sequentially, or References (Author date) listed 
alphabetically at the end of the paper. Any major style, consistently applied, is acceptable. 
 
Each citation must provide name of author/editor, full title of the work, place, publisher, date, 
and page references.  
 
Titles of books and journals are italicized, not underlined.  Archival and manuscript material 
must contain a full description in the first citation. 
 
Use of abbreviations (e.g. Amer. J. Sci.) is encouraged, as is the short reference format for 
subsequent citations of a text (e.g. Petterssen, Weather Forecasting, 12.). 
 
Endnotes are not meant to be discursive. 


