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Article ID: CBB000932764

The Storm Lab: Meteorology in the Austrian Alps (2009)

Science in Context
Volume: 22
Pages: 463--486

Publication Date: 2009
Edition Details: Part of Special Issue: The Laboratory of Nature---Science in the Mountains
Language: English

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What, if anything, uniquely defines the mountain as a laboratory of nature? Here, this question is considered from the perspective of meteorology. Mountains played a central role in the early history of modern meteorology. The first permanent year-round high-altitude weather stations were built in the 1880s but largely fell out of use by the turn of the twentieth century, not to be revived until the 1930s. This paper considers the unlikely survival of the Sonnblick observatory (3105 m.) in the Austrian Alps. By examining the arguments of the Sonnblick's critics and defenders, it reveals a seemingly paradoxical definition of the mountain as a space that simultaneously maximized isolation and communication. Drawing on the social and environmental history of the Alps, it shows how the Sonnblick came to appear as the perfect embodiment of this paradox.

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Article Bigg, Charlotte; Aubin, David; Felsch, Philipp (2009) Introduction: The Laboratory of Nature---Science in the Mountains. Science in Context (p. 311). unapi

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000932764/

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