Australian scientists amazed after climate change paper generates more than 2.8 million citations on Wikipedia
Published in 2007 in an Earth sciences journal, the research used contemporary data to update a widely used model for classifying the world’s climates
An academic paper on global climate zones written by three Australians more than a decade ago has been named the most cited source on Wikipedia, having being referenced more than 2.8 million times.
But the authors of the paper, who are still good friends, had no idea about the wider impact of their work until recently.
The paper, published in 2007 in the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, used contemporary data to update a widely used model for classifying the world’s climates.
Known as the Köppen Climate Classification System, the model was first published by climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, but it had not been comprehensively updated for decades.
The lead author of the paper is Dr Murray Peel, a senior lecturer in the department of infrastructure engineering at the University of Melbourne, and he co-authored the updated climate map with geography professor Brian Finlayson and engineering professor Thomas McMahon, both now retired.
“We are amazed, absolutely amazed at the number of citations,” Finlayson said. “We are not so much amazed at the fact it’s been cited as we are about the number of people who have cited it.