Temporal resolution of climate pressures on façades in Oxford 1815–2021

Abstract

Changes in climate will exert increasing pressure on heritage, so standard climate metrics need to be tuned to heritage threats. Historical meteorological records are commonly available as monthly summaries, with few offering daily observations as daily readings may not have been taken or yet digitised. As data averaged over longer intervals misses short weather events, we investigate the extent to which temporal resolution is important for assessing climate pressures on façades. The Radcliffe Meteorological Station, Oxford, UK, provides the longest continual record of daily temperature and precipitation measurements in the UK. We use this record to assess the role of temporal scale in heritage climate parameters relating to (i) sunshine and warmth, (ii) rainy days and (iii) freezing events. Where there is a linear relationship between daily and monthly scale data, monthly observations can be interpolated as heritage climate parameters. However, for the majority of parameters, daily data was required to capture the variability in the datasets. We argue for the increased availability of daily observations to help assess the threat of climate to heritage.