Publications

Monograph

Kleemann, Katrin. A Mist Connection: An Environmental History of the Laki Eruption of 1783 and Its Legacy. Historical Catastrophe Studies. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2023. doi.org/10.1515/9783110731927. (Available in print and as an open-access eBook.)

Review of the book on H-Net Water.

Preprints

Collet, Dominik, Sam White, Wendy Khumalo, Dann Grotum, Ingar Mørkestøl Gundersen, Heli Huhtamaa, Katrin Kleemann, Kirstin Krüger, Hans W. Linderholm, Elin Lundstad, Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, Michael Sigl, Martin K. Skoglund, Ingar Stene, and Helene Løvstrand Svarva. “More than Laki: Compound Climate Shocks and Icelandic Volcanism in the Nordic World of the 1780s.” EGUsphere, preprint, 2026. doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5137.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Kleemann, Katrin. “Ice Breaking News: The Deutsche Seewarte (German Maritime Observatory) and Epistemic Shifts in the Ice Service in the Interwar Period.” Centaurus: Journal of the European Society for the History of Science 68, no. 2 (2026). Forthcoming.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Volcanic Eruptions in the Holocene: From the 1815 Tambora Eruption to the Deep Past.” In Disasters, edited by Dagomar Degroot and Rowan Jackson. Oxford Intersections: Environmental Change and Human Experience, edited by Georgina Endfield and Poul Holm. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2026. Published online 16 July 2026. doi.org/10.1093/9780198945239.003.0059.

Di Natale, Antonio, Pavanee Annasawmy, Sophie Arnaud-Haond, Michéle Baqués, Jahson Berhane Alemu, Robert Blasiak, Erinosho Bolanle, Nene Bi Tra Boniface, Ian Butler, Ralf Doering, Isa Elegbede, Luigi Jovane, Samina Kidwai, Katrin Kleemann, Rob Middag, Colin Moffat, Fabiana da Silva Paula, Bing Qiao, Jörn Schmidt, Katarina Viik, Kedong Yin, Erica Wales, and Peng Zhan. “Chapter 2: Scientific Understanding.” In The United Nations Third World Ocean Assessment (WOA III), 2026.

White, Sam, Dominik Collet, Agustí Alcoberro, Mariano Barriendos, Rudolf Brázdil, Pau Castell, Siyu Chen, Cedric de Coning, Dagomar Degroot, Lukáš Dolák, Stefan Döring, Santiago Gorostiza, Katrin Kleemann, Florian Krampe, Kuan-Hui Lin, Nicolas Maughan, Natália Melo, Barry Molloy, Astrid E. J. Ogilvie, Piling Pai, Qing Pei, Christian Pfister, Silviya Serafimova, and Diyang Zhang. “Climate, Peace, and Conflict: Past and Present–Bridging Insights from Historical Sciences and Contemporary Research.” Ambio 54, no. 5 (2025): 774–792. doi.org/10.1007/s13280-024-02109-1.

Ebert, Stephan F., and Katrin Kleemann. “Eldgjá and Laki: Two Large Icelandic Fissure Eruptions and a Historical-Critical Approach for Interdisciplinary Researchers Working on Past Nature-Induced Disasters.” Volcanica 8, no. 1 (2025): 51–65. doi.org/10.30909/vol.08.01.5165.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Laki Eruption.” Illustrations by Cooked Illustrations. PAGES Horizons 3 (2024): 40–43. doi.org/10.22498/pages.horiz.3.40.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Seismic Seconds: The Challenges of Precisely Dating and Timing Earthquakes in New England in the Past Four Centuries.” PAGES Magazine 32, no. 1 (May 2024): 18–19. doi.org/10.22498/pages.32.1.18.

Brázdil, Rudolf, Petr Dobrovolný, Christian Pfister, Katrin Kleemann, Kateřina Chromá, Péter Szabó, and Piotr Olinski. “Weather and Climate and Their Human Impacts and Responses During the Thirty Years’ War in Central Europe.” Climate of the Past 19, no. 9 (2023): 1863–1890. doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1863-2023.

White, Sam, Qing Pei, Katrin Kleemann, Lukáš Dolák, Heli Huhtamaa, and Chantal Camenisch. “New Perspectives on Historical Climatology.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 14, no. 1 (2023): e808. doi.org/10.1002/wcc.808.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783.” Global Environment 15, no. 3 (October 2022): 456–489. doi.org/10.3197/ge.2022.150302.

Stoffel, Markus, Christophe Corona, Francis Ludlow, Michael Sigl, Heli Huhtamaa, Emmanuel Garnier, Samuli Helama, Sébastien Guillet, Arlene Crampsie, Katrin Kleemann, Chantal Camenisch, Joseph McConnell, and Chaochao Gao. “Climatic, Weather, and Socio-Economic Conditions Corresponding to the Mid-17th-Century Eruption Cluster.” Climate of the Past 18, no. 5 (2022): 1083–1108. doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1083-2022.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Maximum Latewood Density Analysis Solves Long-Standing Mystery Between Temperature Reconstructions and Historical Records.” Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 37, no. 4 (2022): e2022PA004444. doi.org/10.1029/2022PA004444.

Degroot, Dagomar, Kevin Anchukaitis, Martin Bauch, Jakob Burnham, Fred Carnegy, Jianxin Cui, Kathryn de Luna, Piotr Guzowski, George Hambrecht, Heli Huhtamaa, Adam Izdebski, Katrin Kleemann, Emma Moesswilde, Naresh Neupane, Timothy Newfield, Qing Pei, Elena Xoplaki, and Natale Zappia. “Towards a Rigorous Understanding of Societal Responses to Climate Change.” Nature 591 (2021): 539–550. doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03190-2.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Living in the Time of a Subsurface Revolution: The 1783 Calabrian Earthquake Sequence.” Arcadia, no. 30 (Summer 2019). Environment & Society Portal, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8767.

Kleemann, Katrin. “‘Moby Dick’ in the Rhine: How a Beluga Whale Raised Awareness of Water Pollution in West Germany.” Arcadia, no. 6 (Spring 2018). Environment & Society Portal, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8222.

Other Articles and Chapters in Books

Kleemann, Katrin. “Visualisierungen des Meeres in den Segelhandbüchern und Atlanten der Deutschen Seewarte, 1882–1910.” In Medialitäten des Meeres, edited by Ruth Schilling and Dennis Niewerth. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2027. Forthcoming.

von Frankenberg, Pablo, Niels Hollmeier, and Katrin Kleemann. “Research Ships: Science in Extreme Conditions.” In Ship Realms: The Ocean and Us, edited by Ruth Schilling and Pablo von Frankenberg, 52–69. Bremerhaven: German Maritime Museum, 2026.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Internationale Forschungsexpeditionen und die Vermessung des Meeresbodens im Südlichen Ozean im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert.” In Räume in der Internationalen Geschichte: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, edited by Sönke Kunkel, Michael Homberg, Johanna Sackel, Martin Deuerlein, and Jonas Klein, 203–230. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter Brill, 2025. doi.org/10.1515/9783112213278-009.

Kleemann, Katrin. “A Mist Connection: An Environmental History of the Laki Eruption of 1783 and Its Legacy.” Briefe zur Interdisziplinarität 34 (2024): 6–23. doi.org/10.14512/8gnkf742.

von Frankenberg, Pablo, Niels Hollmeier, and Katrin Kleemann. “Forschungsschiffe – Wissenschaft unter Extrembedingungen.” In Schiffswelten – Der Ozean und Wir, edited by Ruth Schilling and Pablo von Frankenberg, 82–99. Bremerhaven: Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum, 2024.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Aus der Welt zurück nach Deutschland: Georg von Neumayer, die Deutsche Seewarte und Flaschenpostsendungen.” Deutsche Schiffahrt 2 (2023): 11–15.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Skaftáreldar: Rios, administração central dinamarquesa e sobrevivência durante a erupção do Laki na Islândia em 1783” [“Skaftáreldar: Rivers, the Danish Central Administration, and Survival during the 1783 Laki Eruption in Iceland”]. Translated by Daniel Dutra Coelho Braga. In Rios de História: O Passado em Caminhos Fluviais [Rivers of History: The Past in River Paths], edited by Wesley Oliveira Kettle and Gabriel Pereira de Oliveira. Maceió: Editora Olyver, 2023.

Kleemann, Katrin, and Admire Mseba. “Hazards and Disasters: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Droughts, Floods, and Locusts.” In Routledge Handbook of Environmental History, edited by Emily O’Gorman, Mark Carey, Sandra Swart, and Willian San Martín. Abingdon: Routledge, 2024.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Von Island bis ins Wendland: Die Auswirkungen des Ausbruchs der Lakispalte von 1783–1784.” In Hannoversches Wendland 20 (2020–2023), edited by Wolfgang Jürries, 23–48. Lüchow, 2023.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Eruptions, Earthquakes & Emissions: Visualizing the Planet’s Heartbeat.” In Ant Spider Bee: Chronicling Digital Transformations in Environmental Humanities, edited by Kimberly Coulter, Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, and Finn Arne Jørgensen, 161–165. Munich: Spider & Cloud, 2021.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Flyover Country App, or What Do Airplanes and Dinosaurs Have in Common?.” In Ant Spider Bee: Chronicling Digital Transformations in Environmental Humanities, edited by Kimberly Coulter, Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, and Finn Arne Jørgensen, 172–177. Munich: Spider & Cloud, 2021.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Telling Stories of a Changed Climate: The Laki Fissure Eruption and the Interdisciplinarity of Climate History.” In Communicating the Climate: From Knowing Change to Changing Knowledge, edited by Katrin Kleemann and Jeroen Oomen, RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society 2019, no. 4, 33–42. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8823.

Kleemann, Katrin, and Jeroen Oomen. “Preface: Communicating the Climate: From Knowing Change to Changing Knowledge.” In Communicating the Climate: From Knowing Change to Changing Knowledge, edited by Katrin Kleemann and Jeroen Oomen, RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society 2019, no. 4, 7–14. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8822.

Edited Volumes

Kleemann, Katrin, ed. Ecopolis München 2019. Environment & Society Portal, Virtual Exhibitions 2020, no. 2. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/9005.

Kleemann, Katrin, and Jeroen Oomen, eds. Communicating the Climate: From Knowing Change to Changing Knowledge. RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society 2019, no. 4. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8822.

Encyclopedia Articles

Kleemann, Katrin. “The Laki Fissure Eruption, 1783–1784.” Encyclopedia of the Environment. Grenoble: Encyclopedia of the Environment, 2020. Online ISSN 2555-0950. https://www.encyclopedie-environnement.org/en/society/laki-fissure-eruption-1783-1784-2/. (In English.)

Kleemann, Katrin. “L’éruption de la fissure Laki, 1783–1784.” L’Encyclopédie de l’environnement. Grenoble: Encyclopédie de l’environnement, 2020. Online ISSN 2555-0950. https://www.encyclopedie-environnement.org/societe/leruption-de-la-fissure-laki-1783-1784/. (In French.)

Conference Posters

Kleemann, Katrin. “Impacts of the Laki Fissure Eruption of 1783 on North America.” Poster presented at the 3rd VICS Meeting (Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society), Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA, 2018. doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.18263.78245.

Kleemann, Katrin. “The Laki Eruption and Strange Weather Phenomena in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783.” Poster presented at the 8th Biennial European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) Conference, Versailles, France, 2015.

Conference and Workshop Reports

Kleemann, Katrin, Noemi Quagliati, and Fabienne Will. “‘Planetary Waters.’ Bericht zur internationalen Tagung im Oktober 2025 am Deutschen Schifffahrtsmuseum.” Deutsche Schiffahrt 1 (2026): 27–29.

White, Sam, Lukáš Dolák, Heli Huhtamaa, Katrin Kleemann, and Qing Pei. “CRIAS Workshop: Climate Histories.” Past Global Changes Magazine 34, no. 1 (April 2026): 49. doi.org/10.22498/pages.34.1.49.

White, Sam, Dominik Collet, Katrin Kleemann, and Nicolas Maughan. “Climate and Conflict Revisited: Perspectives from Past and Present.” Past Global Changes Magazine 31, no. 2 (2023): 122. doi.org/10.22498/pages.31.2.122.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Tagungsbericht: Research Expeditions to India and the Indian Ocean in Early Modern and Modern Times.” H-Soz-Kult, 23 March 2023.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Communicating the Climate: How to Communicate Scholarly Findings on Climate and Weather in a Controversial Time.” Seeing the Woods, 26 September 2017.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Knowing Nature: The Changing Foundations of Environmental Knowledge: Conference Report.” Seeing the Woods, 22 June 2017.

Book Reviews

Kleemann, Katrin. Review of Mountains of Fire: The Menace, Meaning, and Magic of Volcanoes, by Clive Oppenheimer. Environmental History 29, no. 4 (October 2024): 759–760. doi.org/10.1086/731871.

Kleemann, Katrin. Review of Droughts, Floods, and Global Climatic Anomalies in the Indian Ocean World, edited by Philip Gooding. H-Water, H-Net Reviews (November 2023). www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=58402.

Kleemann, Katrin. Review of Cataclysms: An Environmental History of Humanity, by Laurent Testot. The Holocene (September 2021). doi.org/10.1177/09596836211043654.

Kleemann, Katrin. Review of Volcanoes in Eighteenth-Century Europe: An Essay in Environmental Humanities, by David McCallam. English Historical Review 136, no. 580 (June 2021): 732–734. doi.org/10.1093/ehr/ceab074.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Thriving in the Face of Climate Change—Lessons from the Little Ice Age.” Review of The Frigid Golden Age: Climate Change, the Little Ice Age, and the Dutch Republic, 1560–1720, by Dagomar Degroot. H-Environment Roundtable Reviews 8, no. 6, 12 December 2018.

Kleemann, Katrin. Review of Making Climate Change History: Documents from Global Warming’s Past, by Joshua P. Howe. Reviews in History, 7 February 2018. Review no. 2220. doi.org/10.14296/RiH/2014/2220.

Translations

Walsh, Jack. Die Bremer Kogge: Ein mittelalterliches Schiff im Museum. Illustrated by Jack Walsh. Translated by Katrin Kleemann. Bremerhaven: Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum, 2024.

Hiller, Georg, and Stefanie Kölbl, eds. Welt-kult-ur-sprung – World Origin of Culture. Translated by Katrin Kleemann and Iris Trautmann. Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2016.

Blog Articles

Kleemann, Katrin. “Shaken Awake: The Nighttime Earthquake of 1783.” HCA Graduate Blog, 25 October 2023.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Archivalie des Monats: Der Fesselballonaufstieg der ersten Deutschen Antarktischen Expedition.” Blog of the German Maritime Museum, 1 September 2023.

Kleemann, Katrin, and Nils Theinert. “The Library and Collections at the German Maritime Museum / Leibniz Institute for Maritime History in Bremerhaven.” Blog for History of Oceanography on the website of the International Commission of the History of Oceanography, 4 August 2023.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Advice for Planning and Conducting Archival Research.” ActiveHistory.ca, 9 September 2020. Cross-posted from Environmental History Now.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Field Notes: Advice for Planning and Conducting Archival Research.” Environmental History Now, 9 September 2020.

Kleemann, Katrin. “CO2 Emissions from Human Activities Have Imbalanced the Atmospheric Carbon Budget, Significantly Contributing to Climate Change, Contrary to Online Claim.” Claim Review for Climate Feedback, 11 February 2020.

Kleemann, Katrin. “A Change of Perspective: Visiting the Places of Your Research.” Environmental History Now, 9 September 2019.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Beyond Tectonics: How the Tectonic Events of 1783 Were Perceived by the Population of Europe.” Edited by Hannah Davies. Blog of the Tectonics and Structural Geology (TS) Division of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), 4 September 2019.

Kleemann, Katrin. “29 November 1783: The Night the US East Coast Was Awoken by ‘a Small Shock of an Earthquake’.” Environmental History Now, 10 September 2018.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Environmental History or Environmentally Minded History? New Scholars Second Meeting.” NiCHE – Network in Canadian History and Environment | Nouvelle initiative Canadienne en histoire de l’environnement, The Otter, 5 March 2018.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Volcanoes, Climate Change, and Society: History and Future Prospects.” HistoricalClimatology.com Blog, 23 November 2017.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Speculating About the Weather: The Unusual Dry Fog of 1783.” NiCHE – Network in Canadian History and Environment | Nouvelle initiative Canadienne en histoire de l’environnement, The Otter, 2 October 2017.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Snapshot: Where Geology Meets Early Modern History: A Millstone Quarry in Upper Bavaria.” Seeing the Woods, 19 June 2017.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Eruptions, Earthquakes, & Emissions: Visualizing the Planet’s Heartbeat.” Ant Spider Bee, 6 February 2017.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Watch Your Step! Moss Conservation in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland.” Seeing the Woods, 18 October 2016.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Snapshot: Beach Litter in a Sustainable Exhibition.” Seeing the Woods, 7 June 2016.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Flyover Country App, or What Do Airplanes and Dinosaurs Have in Common?.” Ant Spider Bee, 4 May 2016.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Worldview: Earthquakes in Munich?.” Seeing the Woods, 20 April 2016.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Beyond Doom and Gloom: An Exploration Through Letters—A New Virtual Exhibition.” Seeing the Woods, 6 April 2016.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Environmental Geology in Spain – From 21st Century Pollution to Fossil Atolls.” Environmental Studies Certificate Program Blog, 28 February 2016.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Environmental Geology in Spain – Geology Explains Coral Remains on a Hilltop.” Environmental Studies Certificate Program Blog, 27 February 2016.

Kleemann, Katrin, and Maya Schmitt. “Snapshot: Distant Transformations.” Seeing the Woods, 22 February 2016.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Environmental Geology in Spain – Retracing a Past Volcanic Eruption.” Environmental Studies Certificate Program Blog, 21 February 2016.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Snapshot: Earthquake Simulation at the Museum Mensch und Natur.” Seeing the Woods, 9 February 2016.

Other Online Publications

Kleemann, Katrin. “Flood Marks in Würzburg”; “Ringing the Church Bells Against Bad Weather: The So-Called Schillerglocke”; “The Installation of Lightning Rods: The So-Called Hemmer’scher Fünfspitz”; “The Main Flood of 1784 in Würzburg.” In Weathered History: The Material Side of Past Climate Change (Online Exhibition), curated by Martin Bauch and Diana Lucia Feitsch, 2021.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Lernpapier ‘A Mist Connection: The Laki Eruption and Its Legacy’.” Andrea von Braun Stiftung, 9 August 2020. This Lernpapier has moved to: https://doi.org/10.14512/8gnkf742.

Kleemann, Katrin. “Living in the Time of a Subsurface Revolution: The 1783 Calabrian Earthquake Sequence.” #ASEH2018TWEETS Twitter Conference, presented by the ASEH Graduate Caucus and co-sponsored by the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE) and the NiCHE New Scholars Committee, 9 March 2018. [This post is no longer live, for the Twitter conference, see here.]

Kleemann, Katrin, and Sophie Mibus. “Altbrief, Brief mit Briefinhalt an Prinz Xaver von Sachsen in Dresden, betr. Beschwerde von Raphael und Michael Hertz aus Schleusingen.” Online Collection of the Museum für Kommunikation Berlin, 2014.