Calculating the Weather (eBook)

Cover 1
Contents 6
Chapter 1. Introduction 10
Three Traditions in Meteorology 10
The Unification of Meteorology 11
Transformations of Meteorology 12
Algorithms, Calculation, and Computation 13
Forces Leading to an Increased Use of Algorithms 15
Part I: Meteorology in 1900 18
Chapter 2. An Empirical Tradition: Climatology 20
Quantitative Description 20
Calculational Demands 22
Trying to Find Regularities by Tabulating 24
Finding Regularities by Mapping 25
Finding Regularities by Graphing 28
Finding Regularities by Statistical Analysis 30
The Establishment of Climatology 33
Chapter 3. A Theoretical Tradition: Physics of the Atmosphere 36
The Beginnings of Dynamical Meteorology 36
William Napier Shaw 38
The Theorists and the Empiricists 39
Calculation in Theoretical Meteorology 40
Chapter 4. A Practical Tradition: Weather Forecasting 45
The Weather Map 45
Skepticism about Weather Forecasting 48
"Science, Not Art" 49
Calculation in Weather Forecasting 52
Part II: Meteorology in the First Half of the 20th Century 54
Chapter 5. Vilhelm Bjerknes's Program to Unify Meteorology 56
Aerology 56
From Physics to Meteorology 58
The Program to Calculate the Weather 59
The Graphical Calculus 61
A Turn toward Practical Forecasting 65
Chapter 6. Lewis Fry Richardson: The First Person to Compute the Weather 67
Into and out of Meteorology 67
Discovery of a Numerical Method 71
A Scheme to Compute the Weather 74
The Data Requirements 76
The Theoretical Basis 80
A Test of the Scheme 83
The Necessity of Numerical Analysis 85
The Inclusiveness of the Scheme 87
The Influence of Richardson's Work 89
Chapter 7. The Growth of Meteorology 92
Meteorology in World War I 92
The Bergen School 93
The Growth of Dynamical Meteorology 95
Meteorology as a Profession 96
Carl-Gustaf Rossby 97
Chapter 8. Meteorological Calculation in the Interwar Period 100
The First Use of Punched-Card Machines 100
The Search for Weather Cycles 103
Calculating Aids 108
Calculation in Weather Forecasting 113
The Beginnings of Numerical Experimentation 116
Chapter 9. The Effect of World War II on Meteorology 120
Operation Overlord 120
The Wartime Importance of Meteorology 122
The Increased Use of Punched-Card Machines 124
Changes in Meteorological Practice 127
Changes in Meteorological Research 132
Interest in Objective Forecasting 136
Part III: The Beginning of the Computer Era in Meteorology 142
Chapter 10. John von Neumann's Meteorology Project 144
Von Neumann's Interest in Meteorology 144
The Start of the Meteorology Project 147
The Arrival of Jule Charney 150
Charney's Program 152
The Use of the ENIAC 154
The Use of the IAS Computer 157
Chapter 11. The Acceptance of Numerical Meteorology 161
The Beginnings of a New Style of Meteorology 161
The Spread of Numerical Meteorology 163
Steps toward Operational Forecasting by Means of Computer 165
The Establishment of Numerical Forecasting 167
The Computers Used by Meteorologists 171
The Abandonment of Other Calculating Aids 174
Advances in Numerical Meteorology 178
Chapter 12. The Unification of Meteorology 182
Growth of the Profession 182
Advances in Observational Techniques 183
A New Style of Research 186
Numerical Experimentation 190
Numerical Analysis 192
The Unification of Meteorology 193
Chapter 13. The Recognition of Limits to Weather Prediction 197
Notes 204
Note on Sources 234
References 236
Index 252
International Geophysics Series 262