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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS     This PDF is available at http://nap.edu/21272 SHARE The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment DETAILS 193 pages | 5 x 9 | PAPERBACK ISBN 978-0-309-35922-1 | DOI 10.17226/21272 CONTRIBUTORS GET THIS BOOK Panel on International Meteorological Cooperation; Committee on Atmospheric Sciences; National Research Council FIND RELATED TITLES  Visit the National Academies Press at NAP.edu and login or register to get: – Access to free PDF downloads of thousands of scientiﬁc reports  – 10% off the price of print titles  – Email or social media notiﬁcations of new titles related to your interests – Special offers and discounts Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the National Academies Press. (Request Permission) Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment THE FEASIBILITY OFA GLOBAL OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS EXPERIMENT Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment t!HE FEASIBILITY OFA GLOBAL OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS EXPERIMENT A Report of the PANEL ON INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL COOPERATION ~~ to the ~OMMITTEE ON ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 1/ PUBLICATION 1290 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL WASHINGTON, D. C. 1966 Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment Library of Congress Card Catalog No. 65·60097 Copies available from PRINTING AND PUBUSHING OFFICE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SciENCES--NATIONAL REsEARCH CoUNCIL 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20418 Price: $4.00 Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment March ~1. 1966 Dear Dr. Seitz: It is my pleasure to transmit to you the report of the Panel on International Meteorological Cooperation. The report has been re· viewed and approved unanimously by the parent Committee on Atmospheric Sciences. The Panel was established by the Committee two years ago to pre pare a specific response from the United States scientific community to Resolution 1802 of the United Nations, which invited the Inter national Council of Scientific Unions through its constituent unions and member academies "to develop an extended programme of atmos pheric science research which will complement the programmes fos tered by the World Meteorological Organization." Particular attention is focused in this report on the scientific and technological components of an international cooperative effort to obtain a physical definition of the large-scale motions of the entire lower atmosphere. The implications of this effort with respect to improved weather forecasts and the exploration of climat.ic change are of great interest to many sections of the scientific community. The preparation of the present report has benefited materially from extensive discussions with our colleagues in other countries, and from a detailed review of many of its ideas in connection with the White House Conference on International Cooperation held in late Novem ber 1965. I am particularly pleased to report the deep interest in this program by scientists in other parts of the world and the warm en dorsement given by the participants in the White House conference. We urge that this report be transmitted to the unions and adhering bodies of the International Council of Scientific Unions as our con tribution to the development of an important and exciting inter national program. Sincerely yours, r-"''Utf o~4111 ~ Thomas F. Malone, Chairman Committee on Atmospheric Sciences Dr. Frederick Seitz National Academy of Sciences Washington, D. C. Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment Committee on Atmospheric Sciences MEMBERS THOMAS F. MAWNE, Chairman; The Travelers Insurance Company HENRY G. BOOKER, University of California at San Diego GEORGE F. CAIUUER, Harvard University JULE G. CHARNEY, Massachusetts Institute of Technology •HuGH L. DRYDEN, National Aeronautics and Space Administration MICHAEL FERENCE, JR., Ford Motor Company ROBERT G. FLEAGLE, University of Washington HERBERT FRIEDMAN, Naval Research Laboratory MARX XAC, Rockefeller University WILLIAM w. XELWGC, National Center for Atmospheric Research G. GORDON LITTLE, Central Radio Propagation Laboratory GORDON J. F. MACDONALD, University of California at Los Angeles EDWARD TELLER, University of California at Livermore PHILIP D. THOMPSON, National Center for Atmospheric Research Panel on International Meteorological Cooperation MEMBERS JULE G. CHARNEY, Chairman; Massachusetts Institute of Technology ROBERT G. FLEAGLE, University of Washington VINCENT E. LALLY, National Center for Atmospheric Research HERBERT RIEHL, Colorado State University DAVID Q. WARK, U. S. Weather Bureau •Deceased December 2. 1965 Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment FoREWORD 1'he development of new data-processing and space technologies ha, created uqprecedented opportunities for advances in meteorological theory and practice. These developments have been noted at the highest levels of government and have led to recommendations for international cooperation in atmospheric research and weather fore casting. A fundamental requirement for both endeavors is a con siderable expansion in data coverage. In November 1963, the Committee on Atmospheric Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences appointed the Panel on International Meteorological Co operation to study the desirability and feasibility of conducting a global observational experiment to measure the state and motion of the entire lower atmosphere for a limited period of time. The study logically fell into two parts: first, the evaluation of the scientific needs for observations on a global scale, and second, the determination of the technical feasibility of possible observational systems. In addition, since global observations of large-scale motions define the physical system only when the small-scale turbulent eddy transports of heat, momentum, and moisture are related to the prop erties of the large-scale flow, a series of regional observational experi- vii Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment viii Foreword ments was studied as a source of data from which the necessary rela tionships could be inferred. Many of the questions involved had already been discussed in various governmental reports, in reports of the World Meteorological Organi zation, and in a report issued by the ad hoc Committee on Interna tional Programs in Atmospheric Sciences and Hydrology, of the Academy's Geophysics Research Board, and under the chairmanship of S. Petterssen. In the preparation of the latter report, the subpanel on Atmospheric Transfer Processes, Structures, Circulations, Weather Prediction and Modification, under the chairmanship of R. M. White, had explored some of the scientific questions in considerable detail. The present report relies heavily on its conclusions. It has also made J. use of a position paper prepared by G. Charney for the Committee on Atmospheric Sciences. This paper was discussed by a group of scientists at a meeting at the National Academy of Sciences on April 29, 1962. The first part of this study was conducted through informal dis cussion between the chairman of the panel and a group of consultants, and was supplemented by a series of computations bearing on the problems of predictability and data requirements. These were carried out at the following institutions: the Livermore Laboratories of the University of California, the University of California at Los Angeles, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of the U.S. Weather Bureau in Washington, D.C., the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in New York City. A study of turbulent-flux research was conducted by a working group under the chairmanship of R. G. Fleagle of the University of Washington, and a special study of the scientific require ments for observations in the tropics was made by H. Riehl of Colo rado State University in collaboration with N. E. LaSeur of Florida State University. It was obvious from the beginning that a global extension of the existing observational network by conventional means was not feasible. Although attractive possibilities exist for an extension of the network to presently unobserved oceanic regions by aerologkal soundings taken from commercial ships and from additional island stations, a full global coverage by this means did not appear economically feasible. It was likewise apparent that while remote radiometric measurements Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment Foreword ix taken from a satellite could yield valuable information on the thermal structure of the atmosphere above cloud tops, and possibly also within clouds, they could not yield all the relevant dynamic parameters. The system that seemed to offer the greatest promise was one consisting of satellites collecting and transmitting data gathered by constant-volume balloons and fixed or floating buoys, as well as making radiometric measurements in the infrared, and possibly also the microwave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It was accordingly decided to con· fine the technical feasibility study to the investigation of this system. Establishment of the feasibility of a single system provides a concrete standard against which to compare others. In doing so we do not imply that this is the only possible system, or that some combination of several systems may not ultimately prove to be optimal. The study of the feasibility of a satellite-balloon-buoy-radiometric system was undertaken by a number of working groups. A fully inte grated balloon-satellite system was investigated by a group under the chairmanship of V. E. Lally of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. A satellite system for the location and interrogation of fixed and moving stations has been designed by the Goddard Space Flight Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Another such system, which was planned specifically for use with bal loons, has been designed by the French National Center of Space Studies. While the latter two system designs are not integral parts of the present study, they do demonstrate the feasibility of the satellite as a data-collection and location instrument. Discussions were held J. with M. Tepper and L. Fong of NASA headquarters, W. Townsend, E. A. Neil, and G. D. Hogan of the Goddard Space Flight Center, and V. E. Suomi of the U.S. Weather Bureau to compare design concepts and to reconcile divergences in points of view. Similar discussions were held with J. E. Blamont and P. Morel of the French Center of Space Studies. The study of ocean-surface observations was conducted by the aforementioned working group of R. G. Fleagle, and the study of satellite radiometry was conducted by D. Q. Wark of the U.S. Weather Bureau in consultation with a number of advisers in the fields of infrared and microwave spectroscopy. In addition, special studies of J. the problem of balloon dispersal were carried out by K. Angell of the U.S. Weather Bureau, F. Mesinger of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Y. Mintz of the University of California Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.