Cave temperature in Britain and Ireland

rom82

Member
Hi all,

Bit of an odd question but is there anyone who might be able to point me in the diretion of a report or study into cave temperature in Britain and/or Ireland? We all 'know' caves of these islands are about nine degree year round, but where do we know this from? Is there a book or a text that has carried out temperature readings across a variety of caves? basically I'm just in need of something to cite for a report.

Any help would be great, thank you,
rob
 

Alex

Well-known member
I wonder if measuring the average temperature of a cave year on year, is an accurate way of measuring the climate emergency?
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
And from experience I can confirm it is probably accurate. For example, in southern Thailand you can cave in shorts and T shirt.
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
I wonder if measuring the average temperature of a cave year on year, is an accurate way of measuring the climate emergency?
That is an intriguing question and worthy of following up - possible even in the UK>
 

mikem

Well-known member
Climate change theory predicts that UK will become cooler as gulf stream moves away from coast...
 

Speleofish

Active member
I thought the theory was that we would develop a more extreme climate akin to North America at similar latitudes - colder winters, warmer summers.
 

mikem

Well-known member
They get warmer summers due to being continental, we would still have the ocean's cooling effect, but yes, more extreme weather events (as we've already seen with more regular flooding), including higher summer temperatures, but the average likely colder, as sea temperature lower
 

mikem

Well-known member
St John's, Newfoundland, is same latitude as Paris (so bit further south), but average high is 9'C & low 1'C, compared to Heathrow at 15'C & 8'C. Vancouver is one of mildest spots in Canada & has very similar figures to Heathrow (14 & 7), but again is nearer Paris
 

mikem

Well-known member
& also has the warm North Pacific current coming from south, whilst the east coast has colder Labrador current originating in Arctic (whilst climate change will presumably affect the latter positively, I'm not sure what they expect to happen to the former, as it's basically flowing around a vast "bay" of the West coast)
 
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rom82

Member
Cheers all! Plenty of references there, its sometimes v hard to reference something which you know as an absolute but which you cannot prove! Thanks for your help!
 
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