PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Local researchers are using centuries-old whaling log books to study how weather patterns have changed. Part of their research is being done at the Providence Public Library, which has a large collection of whaling log books. The books are not recreations: The words, numbers and pictures were handwritten at sea. They were collected by a wealthy collector who realized there was valuable information in these pages, and bequested them to the library. The books, which date back to 1790, contain latitude and longitude information about where the whales were, as well as weather data. A whaling log book at the Providence Public Library "The weather was important for their navigation," said Tim Walker, a historian at UMass Dartmouth. Tracking the weather is a two-step process. Researchers must first decipher the log book entries before they can look at how weather patterns have changed. "You have to have a skill that we call paleography, which is reading old writing," Walker said. "You have to understand the local jargon." "They're writing down the wind force and wind speed, the wind direction," he continued. "They're writing down basic concepts about what the sea looked like, how much rain they're getting, storms that they encounter." All the voyages in Providence Public Library's log books originate in Southern New England — mostly in New Bedford — but the ships sailed all over the world in the 1700s and 1800s, especially in the Indian Ocean. ALSO READ: Blue whale skeleton at New Bedford museum still oozing oil "One area that really stands out in the global oceans is the Southern Ocean, which has a strong belt of westerly winds that circle around Antarctica," said Caroline Ummenhofer, a physical oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. The researchers discovered that that belt of westerlies has shifted closer to Antarctica, leaving parts of South Africa and Australia drier. In recent years, those countries have experienced extensive droughts. Most of the log book information comes from the North Atlantic, so the researchers are now looking to see how patterns may have changed there as well. "We've got about a hundred thousand data points," Ummenhoffer said. "A hundred sixty logbooks that we've gone through so far." "Our current climate is kind of a big deal, and it's nice to be a part of a solution to that problem," said Jordan Goffin, Director of Special Collections at the Providence Public Library. The group is funded in part by FM Global and is looking for more funding to continue its study. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Pinpoint Weather 12 Today SIGN UP NOW