A Half Century of Progress in Meteorology: A Tribute to Richard Reed

147 Pages·2003·29.757 MB·English

by  Richard H. Johnson, Robert A. Houze Jr. (eds.)

A HALF CENTLTRY OF PROGRESS IN METEOROLOGY:
A TRIBUTE TO RICHARD REED
Edited by
Richard H. Johnson
Robert A. Houze Jr.
Published by the American Meteorological Society
METEOROLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS
Editor Technical Editor Copy Editor
PETER S. RAy KENNETH F. HEIDEMAN GARY GORSKI
Florida State University American Meteorological Society American Meteorological Society
In-House Book and Monograph Editor
GRETCHEN NEEDHAM
American Meteorological Society
Associate Editors
ROBERT C. BEARDSLEY JAMES R. HOLTON
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution University of Washington
RICHARD E. ORVILLE
Texas A&M University
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METEOROLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS
VOLUME 31 DECEMBER 2003 NUMBER 53
A
HALF CENTURY OF PROGRESS IN
A
METEOROLOGY: TRIBUTE TO RICHARD REED
Edited by
Richard H. Johnson
Robert A. Houze Jr.
American Meteorological Society
45 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108
© Copyright 2003 by the American Meteorological Society. Per
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graph in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided
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permission of the publisher.
ISSN 0065-9401
ISBN 978-1-878220-58-5 ISBN 978-1-878220-69-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-878220-69-1
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003
Published by the American Meteorological Society
45 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. vi - vii
Contributors ..................................................................................... viii - x
Other Presenters ..................................................................................... xi
Chapter 1. A Short Account of My Education, Career Choice, and Research
Motivation
- RICHARD J. REED ................................................ 1-7
Photographs of Richard Reed, through His Life and Career. ...................... 9-12
Chapter 2. Tropopause Folding, Upper-Level Frontogenesis, and Beyond
-LANCE F. BOSART ............................................ 13-47
Chapter 3. Back to Frontogenesis
- BRIAN HOSKINS ............................................... 49-60
Chapter 4. Polar Lows
- ERIK A. RASMUSSEN ......................................... 61-78
Chapter 5. The Role of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation in Stratospheric Dehydration
-JAMES R. HOLTON ............................................ 79-84
Chapter 6. Richard J. Reed and Atmospheric Tides
-RICHARD S. LINDZEN ......................................... 85-89
Chapter 7. Characteristics of African Easterly Waves
-ROBERT W. BURPEE ........................................ 91-108
Chapter 8. The Relevance of Numerical Weather Prediction for Forecasting
Natural Hazards and for Monitoring the Global Environment
- ANTHONY HOLLINGSWORTH, P. VITERBO, AND
A. J. SIMMONS ................................................. 109-129
Chapter 9. A Life in the Global Atmosphere: Dick Reed and the World of
International Science
-JOHN S. PERRy ............................................. 131-138
Photographs from the Richard J. Reed Symposium, January 15, 2002
in Orlando, Florida ........................................................................ 139
VOL 31, No. 53 METEOROLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS
PREFACE
World War II saw a rapid growth in meteorology, At the Reed Symposium in Orlando, 12 invited talks
marked by substantial increases in the workforce, expan were presented in four sessions covering many of Reed's
sion of meteorology in academia, and the emergence of key contributions to the atmospheric sciences: fronts,
new subdisciplines. As sub fields developed, leaders frontogenesis, and the tropopause (Lance Bosart, Brian
arose, but only a few made profound contributions across Hoskins, Melvyn Shapiro); the stratosphere (James Hol
many of those fields. Richard J. Reed is one ofthose few. ton, Taroh Matsuno, Richard Lindzen); tropical studies,
On 15 January 2002 a symposium was held at the numerical prediction, and Reed's leadership role in the
American Meteorological Society's (AMS) 82d Annual sciences (Robert Burpee, Anthony Hollingsworth, John
Meeting in Orlando, Florida, to pay tribute to the extraor Perry); and polar lows, extratropical cyclones, and me
dinary scientific career of Richard J. Reed. The major soscale flows (Erik Rasmussen, Ying-Hwa Kuo, and
theme of the symposium was the broad scope and Clifford Mass). Eight of these talks have been expanded
significant impact of a half century of Reed's research, into the papers that now appear in this monograph.
spanning virtually the entire field of meteorology (from In addition to putting Reed's contributions into a
the boundary layer through the troposphere into the broad context, these papers contain valuable reviews
stratosphere and mesosphere, from the Tropics to the of the subject areas as well as a number of new
Arctic, from the scale of turbulence to the mesoscale to research findings.
the synoptic scale, from fog to deep convection, and from Several common themes regarding the nature of
tropical easterly waves to polar lows to explosive cyclo Reed's research emerge from the symposium and the
genesis). Reed's unique insight in the interpretation of papers appearing in this monograph. One is the unusual
observations has led to fundamental discoveries that have care and thoroughness with which Reed treats and
shaped the course of the science in many of these areas. analyzes observations. His attention to detail and ability
To paint the background for the papers in this volume, to synthesize diverse observations placed in a theoretical
Richard Reed himself starts the monograph off with a context has enabled him to lucidly expose underlying
brief autobiography. His words provide a window into mechanisms of a wide range of physical processes.
his life as a scientist and help us understand how he has The care and patience with which he conducts research
contributed so significantly to a half century of progress was exemplified in the symposium talk by Holton,
in meteorology. In looking back over Reed's achieve who pointed out that in Reed's discovery of the quasi
ments of the past 50 years, one has to wonder how he biennial oscillation (QBO), he delayed publication of this
was able to repeatedly strike out onto new frontiers and groundbreaking result until late arrival of data from
immediately contribute authoritative works in each new Nairobi, Kenya, in order to confirm the global extent
area. The following excerpt from his autobiography of the oscillation.
sheds light on his unique love of the science and his Also evident, even from a casual reading of Reed's
contributions that grew out of that devotion. papers, is an unusual clarity in exposition, which has
no doubt contributed to the significant and lasting
From the start I loved meteorology with a deep impact of his research. At the symposium, Lindzen
seated passion and experienced aesthetic feelings noted that as a theoretician he was drawn to Reed's
toward meteorological phenomena that motivated observational studies because of the way in which he
and sustained my future endeavors. These emotional was able to distill key results and present them in a
attachments lasted throughout my career. Without clear, concise manner. A number of Reed's pioneering
them it is unthinkable that I could have achieved studies has opened up new approaches and avenues for
what I did. My choice of specific research topics research. As explained by Bosart, Reed's early work
was determined or inspired by a number of circum on upper-level fronts, which introduced potential vor
stances, ranging from healthy curiosity, to obliga ticity to examine intrusions of stratospheric air into the
tions imposed by others, to opportunities proffered troposphere, has been extended and expanded in sub
by outside parties, to the occasional desire to strike sequent decades, even to this day where it remains the
out in new directions, to contact with directly principal tool of upper-level front/tropopause analysis.
experienced weather events, and, in my most While sophisticated models have been developed in
original work, to a series of improbable events. recent years to describe the process of tropopause
In a word, there was no common thread except for folding in greater detail than before, Shapiro empha
an insatiable desire to observe and understand sized that the basic findings still confrm the earliest
atmospheric phenomena. studies of this phenomenon by Reed in the 1950s.
VI
METEOROLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS Vll
With seemingly boundless energy and contagious en Rick Taft (Colorado State University); Mike Wallace,
thusiasm, Reed has tackled many problems across the Candace Gudmundsen, and Kathryn Stout (University
broad spectrum of the atmospheric sciences, and has of Washington); Fred Sanders (Marblehead, Massachu
inspired several generations of students and colleagues. setts); Rick Anthes (UCAR); and the AMS staff (Joyce
It is fitting that we pay tribute to his many achieve Annese, Claudia Gorski, Bryan Hanssen, Ken Heide
ments with a symposium and special monograph on man, Ron McPherson, Gretchen Needham, Jennifer
his research achievements. Many people beyond the Rosen, Yale Schiffman, and Keith Seitter).
authors and symposium lecturers have contributed
substantially to the success of both of these endeavors Richard H. Johnson and Robert A. Houze Jr.
and they should be acknowledged: Gail Cordova and Editors
CONTRIBUTORS
Lance Bosart
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
University at Albany
State University of New York
ES 227, 1400 Washington Ave.
Albany, NY 12222
E-mail: [email protected]
Robert W. Burpee
Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Studies
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149
Anthony Hollingsworth
European Centre for Medium-Range
Weather Forecasts
Shinfield Park, Reading RG2 9A X
United Kingdom
E-mail: [email protected]
viii
IX
James Holton
Department of Atmospheric Science
University of Washington
Box 351640
Seattle, WA 98195
E-mail: [email protected]
Brian Hoskins
Department of Meteorology
Earley Gate
P.O. Box 243, Reading RG6 6BB
United Kingdom
E-mail: [email protected]
Richard Lindzen
Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate, 54-1720
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139
E-mail: [email protected]
John Perry
6205 Talley Ho Lane
Alexandria, VA 22307
E-mail: [email protected]
x
Erik Rasmussen
Hoejbakkestraede 2
DK-2620 Albertslund
Denmark
E-mail: [email protected]
Adrian Simmons
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
Shinfield Park, Reading RG2 9AX
United Kingdom
E-mail: [email protected]
Pedro Viterbo
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
Shinfield Park, Reading RG2 9AX
United Kingdom
E-mail: [email protected]