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Historical Essays on Meteorology 1919–1995: The Diamond Anniversary History Volume of the American Meteorological Society PDF

613 Pages·1996·67.15 MB·English
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Historical Essays on Meteorology 1919-1995 The Diamond Anniversary History Volume of the American Meteorological Society edited by James Rodger Fleming Boston American Meteorological Society 1996 ©Copyright 1996 by the American Meteorological Society. Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this book in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided the source is acknowledged. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The American Meteorological Society 45 Beacon St. Boston, MA 02108 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Historical Essays on Meteorology, 1919-1995 Edited by James Rodger Fleming Foreword by Warren M. Washington (The diamond anniversary history volume of the American Meteorological Society) p. 618 em. ISBN 978-1-940033-84-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-940033-84-6 1. Meteorology-History 2. Atmospheric science-History CIP 96-83535 The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Contents Foreword-Warren M. Washington v Acknowledgments lX Introduction-James R. Fleming XI Dynamic Meteorology and Numerical Weather Prediction 1. The Evolution of Dynamic Meteorology 3 Edward N. Lorenz 2. The Origin and Rise of Numerical Weather Prediction 21 George P. Cressman Observational Tools and Computational Devices 3. The Evolution of Atmospheric Measurement Systems 43 Robert J. Serafin 4. A Short History of Radar Meteorology 57 R.R. Rogers and P.L. Smith 5. Evolution of Satellite Observations in the United States and Their Use in Meteorology 99 James F.W. Purdom and W. Paul Menzel 6. A History of Calculating Aids in Meteorology 157 Frederik Nebeker Cloud Microphysics and Dynamics 7. Formation of Rain: A Historical Perspective 181 Roscoe R. Braham Jr. 8. A History of Research in Cloud Dynamics and Microphysics 225 Harold D. Orville Hurricanes, Convective Storms, and Lightning 9. A History of Hurricane Forecasting for the Atlantic Basin, 1920-1995 263 Mark DeMaria 10. Severe Convective Storms: A Brief History of Science and Practice 307 Kenneth C. Crawford and Edwin Kessler 11. 7 5 Years of Research on the Physics of a Lightning Discharge 321 E. Philip Krider Climatology and Hydrology 12. Steps in the Evolution of Climatology: From Descriptive to Analytic 353 John E. Kutzbach 13. Applied Climatology: A Glorious Past, an Uncertain Future 379 Stanley A. Changnon 14. Hydrology in the Twentieth Century 395 Edwin T. Engman The Private Sector 15. A History of Private Sector Meteorology 417 David B. Spiegler 16. A History of Aeronautical Meteorology: Personal Perspectives, 1903-1995 443 Gordon D. Cartwright and Charles H. Sprinkle 17. The American Meteorological Society and the Development of Broadcast Meteorology 481 Roy Leep Education 18. From Geo- to Physical Science: Meteorology and the American University, 1919-1945 511 William A. Koelsch 19. Meteorology Education in the United States after 1945 541 David D. Houghton Special Essays 20. Historical Writing on Meteorology: An Annotated Bibliography 557 James R. Fleming and Simone L. Kaplan 21. Historical Photo Gallery 581 Julie A. Burba Notes on Contributors 597 Index 613 Foreword As part of its 75th Anniversary, the American Meteorological So ciety (AMS) initiated a history book. This volume of essays chronicles achievements in the field of meteorology in many specialized areas, including basic and applied research, the private sector, and education. From the beginning, the society appealed to a wide spectrum of inter ests. In addition to meteorologists (both professional and amateur), the membership included people involved in the practical applications of weather and climate information to business, commerce, and agricul ture. That tradition remains today. The first issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) captured this sentiment when it noted that the birth of the AMS, "marked the beginning of a movement not only to push forward investigations of weather pro cesses and climate conditions, but also to widen the valuable applica tions of the knowledge already at hand ... into almost every line of human endeavor." As this history book well demonstrates, the founders were futuristic. Meteorology has strongly progressed, both as a basic and applied science and as a major influence in the develop ment of electronic computing, remote sensing, and aviation technolo gies. Information about weather and climate has also found its way into every sector of the economy. "Surely, the applications of meteo rology are manifold" (BAMS 1, 1920, 1). The AMS has grown from about 600 members at its beginning to approximately 11 000 at the present. The society, through its extensive committee structure, meetings and publications programs, and helpful headquarters staff, has also grown in terms of its service to the mem bers. There are many significant milestones that could be mentioned; among the most significant are the following. • 1919-1920: The AMS was organized on 29 December 1919 at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in St. Louis, Missouri. It was incorporated three weeks later, on 21 January 1920, in Washington, D.C. The original v vi HISTORICAL ESSAYS ON METEOROLOGY constitution and by-laws are quite similar to today's, providing for different grades of membership, the election of officers, the governing Council, the meeting structure, the publications, and the various committees. The first volume of BAMS was pub lished in 1920 to keep the society informed of new developments. (See BAMS 26, 1945, 163-170.) • 1938: The awards program began with the Clarence Leroy Meis inger Award. • 1944: The society was reorganized to give increased emphasis to being a scientific, professional organization. This was under taken by presidents C.-G. Rossby and H.G. Houghton. As part of the process of professionalization the Journal of Meteorology was initiated. • 1946: Because of the rapid growth of the field during and after World War II, the society required a formal directorate to coor dinate its many activities. This was established in Boston with Ken Spengler as the first executive secretary. • 1950-1951: Meteorological Abstracts and Bibliography was started under the editorship of Malcom Rigby with the purpose of making available citations to all the literature in meteorology and related fields. In 1951 the Compendium of Meteorology was published by a committee chaired by H. G. Houghton. The editor was Tom Malone, who stated that the purpose was to "take stock of the present position of meteorology . . . and to indicate the avenues of further study and research which needed to be ex plored in order to extend the frontiers of our knowledge." • 1957: The Certified Consulting Meteorologist program was es tablished as was the AMS Seal of Approval for broadcast mete orologists. • 1959: The Glossary of Meteorology was published to standardize the definitions of terms used in the field. A new version of the Glossary is currently being prepared by the society. • 1960: The AMS moved into their historic home at 45 Beacon Street, overlooking Boston Common. The house was designed by Charles Bulfinch, architect of the Massachusetts State House and the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. It was originally the residence of Harrison Gray Otis, who served as mayor of Boston and then as a U.S. senator. The society raised funds from its members to help renovate the building and restore it to its FOREWORD Vll former elegance. (See BAMS 41, 1960, 507-517 and BAMS 62, 1981, 493-497). The society was further reorganized under the leadership of president T. Malone with the initial draft prepared by P.D. McTaggart-Cowan. Committee and commission struc tures were revamped to keep the society in step with the times. By 1968, Council membership was expanded to allow for repre sentation from hydrology, aeronomy, and oceanography. • 1962: The Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences and the Journal of Applied Meteorology were formed from the Journal of Meteo rology. • 1964-1965: The Council developed a series of extensive educa tion programs including films, popular books, a visiting foreign scientist program, career guidance materials, support for sci ence fairs, and a special program to introduce high school stu dents to the field. A year later a curriculum guide for students in the atmospheric sciences was developed. This guide is still being published biannually (now in conjunction with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research), and educational out reach programs are still a prominent part of AMS. • 1971-1988: The Journal of Physical Oceanography was estab lished in 1971, and the hundred-year-old Monthly Weather Re view was converted from a government publication to an AMS journal in 197 4. The growth of AMS journals continued in the 1980s with the addition of the Journal of Atmospheric and Oce anic Technology (1984), Weather and Forecasting (1986), and the Journal of Climate (1988). In 1988 Richard Hallgren became the society's second executive director. The essays in this 75th anniversary history book do not focus on the history of the AMS. Rather, they concern the overall intellectual and institutional development of meteorology in the twentieth century. They constitute a rich sampling of what has been learned, where we stand, and where we might be going-in research, in education, and in the private sector. Each was written by a recognized authority in the field. The AMS was fortunate to obtain the editorship of James R. Fleming for the 75th Anniversary history volume. His professional background in the history of science and technology contributed both rigor and clarity to the historical essays. He has worked closely with the contributors to help tie the chapters together and make the various viii HisTORICAL EssAYS oN METEOROLOGY historical aspects more accurate. As you read this book, keep in mind that this is a book of meteorological discovery and innovation. Impor tant factors for continued discovery and innovation are to be found in understanding the history of our field. Historical Essays on Meteorol ogy, 1919-1995, The Diamond Anniversary Volume of the American Meteorological Society, is a welcome addition to that history, and the AMS is proud to sponsor it. Warren M. Washington President of the American Meteorological Society, 1994 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people were involved in producing a book such as this. Spe cial thanks are due Richard Hallgren, executive director of AMS; War ren Washington, president of AMS in 1994; and the members of the Council who supported this project from beginning to end. I also thank the AMS Committee on the History of the Atmospheric Sciences, chaired by Professor Robert Fleagle, and the program chairs of the individual conferences for inviting speakers to the AMS diamond an niversary meeting and for generating an enormous amount of goodwill and enthusiasm for the book project. Appreciation is due each of the individual authors and their support networks for their perseverance and goodwill through the editorial process. Friends a tAMS-Ken Spengler, Evelyn Mazur, and Barry Mohan provided valuable support and encouragement for this project, as did William Kellogg, the new chair of the Committee on the History of the Atmospheric Sciences. Preparation of the manuscript was facilitated by Alice Ridky, Bev erly Eaton, and my research students Simone Kaplan and Amy Lyons at Colby College. The volume's final form is a result of my hard-work ing and most professional colleagues in the publications department at AMS-Keith Seitter, Melissa Weston, Marianne Simas-Valcich, Patri cia English, Irwin Abrams, Gary Gorski, and Julie Burba. I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge the sacrifices made by my wife Miyoko and my sons Jamitto and Jason while I was preoccu pied with manuscript and pencil.

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