Carl-Gustaf Rossby
Encyclopedia
Carl-Gustaf Arvid Rossby (Stockholm
28 December 1898 – Stockholm 19 August 1957) was a Swedish
-U.S.
meteorologist who first explained the large-scale motions of the atmosphere
in terms of fluid mechanics
.
Rossby came into meteorology
and oceanography
while studying under Vilhelm Bjerknes in Bergen
in 1919, where Bjerknes' group was developing the concept of polar front
, and University of Leipzig
. He also studied at the Lindenberg Observatory, Brandenburg
where upper air measurements by kite and balloon were researched. In 1921, he returned to Stockholm to join the Swedish Meteorological Hydrological Service
where he served as a meteorologist on a variety of oceanographic expeditions. While ashore between expeditions, he studied mathematical physics
at the University of Stockholm.
In 1925, Rossby was granted a fellowship from the Sweden-America Foundation
"to study the application of the polar front theory to American weather". In the U.S. Weather Bureau in Washington, DC he combined theoretical work on atmospheric turbulence
with the establishment of the first weather service for civil aviation
.
In 1928 he became associate professor in the Aeronautics Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. Shortly after this became the first U.S.
department of meteorology. In 1931 he also became a research associate at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
. His interests during this time ranges over atmospheric thermodynamics
, mixing and turbulence
and the interaction between ocean
s and atmosphere.
In 1938, he became a US citizen and the following year, assistant director of research at the U.S. Weather Bureau. His appointment as chair of the department of meteorology at the University of Chicago
in 1940 began the period in which he turned his attention to large-scale atmospheric motions. He identified and characterised both the jet stream
, and Rossby wave
s in the atmosphere.
During World War II
, Rossby organised the training of military meteorologists, recruiting many of them to his Chicago department in the post-war years where he began adapting his mathematical
description of atmospheric dynamics
to weather forecasting
by electronic computer
, having started this actitivites in Sweden using BESK
. In 1947 he became founding director of the Institute of Meteorology in Stockholm, dividing his time between there, Chicago and Woods Hole. After the war he visited Professor Hans Ertel
, an old friend, in Berlin. Their cooperation led to the mathematical formulation of the socalled Rossby wave
s.
Between 1954 and his death in Stockholm in 1958 he championed and developed the field of atmospheric chemistry
. His contributions to meteorology were noted in the Dec. 17, 1956 issue of Time Magazine. His portrait graced the cover that week.
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
28 December 1898 – Stockholm 19 August 1957) was a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
-U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
meteorologist who first explained the large-scale motions of the atmosphere
Earth's atmosphere
The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
in terms of fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics is the study of fluids and the forces on them. Fluid mechanics can be divided into fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest; fluid kinematics, the study of fluids in motion; and fluid dynamics, the study of the effect of forces on fluid motion...
.
Rossby came into meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
and oceanography
Oceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
while studying under Vilhelm Bjerknes in Bergen
Bergen School of Meteorology
The "Bergen School of Meteorology" is a school of thought which is the basis for much of modern weather forecasting.Founded by the meteorologist Prof...
in 1919, where Bjerknes' group was developing the concept of polar front
Polar front
In meteorology, the polar front is the boundary between the polar cell and the Ferrel cell in each hemisphere. At this boundary a sharp gradient in temperature occurs between these two air masses, each at very different temperatures....
, and University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
. He also studied at the Lindenberg Observatory, Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
where upper air measurements by kite and balloon were researched. In 1921, he returned to Stockholm to join the Swedish Meteorological Hydrological Service
SMHI
SMHI is an abbreviation for Sveriges Meteorologiska och Hydrologiska Institut, . SMHI is a government agency in Sweden and operates under the Ministry of Sustainable Development...
where he served as a meteorologist on a variety of oceanographic expeditions. While ashore between expeditions, he studied mathematical physics
Mathematical physics
Mathematical physics refers to development of mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The Journal of Mathematical Physics defines this area as: "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the development of mathematical methods suitable for such applications and...
at the University of Stockholm.
In 1925, Rossby was granted a fellowship from the Sweden-America Foundation
Sweden-America Foundation
The Sweden-America Foundation is a Swedish foundation which provides fellowships to younger Swedes for scientific and cultural work in the United States and Canada.-History:...
"to study the application of the polar front theory to American weather". In the U.S. Weather Bureau in Washington, DC he combined theoretical work on atmospheric turbulence
Turbulence
In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a flow regime characterized by chaotic and stochastic property changes. This includes low momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and rapid variation of pressure and velocity in space and time...
with the establishment of the first weather service for civil aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
.
In 1928 he became associate professor in the Aeronautics Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. Shortly after this became the first U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
department of meteorology. In 1931 he also became a research associate at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of all aspects of marine science and engineering and to the education of marine researchers. Established in 1930, it is the largest independent oceanographic research...
. His interests during this time ranges over atmospheric thermodynamics
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...
, mixing and turbulence
Turbulence
In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a flow regime characterized by chaotic and stochastic property changes. This includes low momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and rapid variation of pressure and velocity in space and time...
and the interaction between ocean
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
s and atmosphere.
In 1938, he became a US citizen and the following year, assistant director of research at the U.S. Weather Bureau. His appointment as chair of the department of meteorology at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1940 began the period in which he turned his attention to large-scale atmospheric motions. He identified and characterised both the jet stream
Jet stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. The main jet streams are located near the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere and the stratosphere . The major jet streams on Earth are westerly winds...
, and Rossby wave
Rossby wave
Atmospheric Rossby waves are giant meanders in high-altitude winds that are a major influence on weather.They are not to be confused with oceanic Rossby waves, which move along the thermocline: that is, the boundary between the warm upper layer of the ocean and the cold deeper part of the...
s in the atmosphere.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Rossby organised the training of military meteorologists, recruiting many of them to his Chicago department in the post-war years where he began adapting his mathematical
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
description of atmospheric dynamics
Dynamics (mechanics)
In the field of physics, the study of the causes of motion and changes in motion is dynamics. In other words the study of forces and why objects are in motion. Dynamics includes the study of the effect of torques on motion...
to weather forecasting
Weather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...
by electronic computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
, having started this actitivites in Sweden using BESK
BESK
BESK was Sweden's first electronic computer, using vacuum tubes instead of relays. It was developed by Matematikmaskinnämnden and during a short time it was the fastest computer in the world. The computer was completed in 1953 and in use until 1966...
. In 1947 he became founding director of the Institute of Meteorology in Stockholm, dividing his time between there, Chicago and Woods Hole. After the war he visited Professor Hans Ertel
Hans Ertel
Hans Ertel was a German natural scientist and a pioneer in geophysics, meteorology and hydrodynamics.-Life and work:...
, an old friend, in Berlin. Their cooperation led to the mathematical formulation of the socalled Rossby wave
Rossby wave
Atmospheric Rossby waves are giant meanders in high-altitude winds that are a major influence on weather.They are not to be confused with oceanic Rossby waves, which move along the thermocline: that is, the boundary between the warm upper layer of the ocean and the cold deeper part of the...
s.
Between 1954 and his death in Stockholm in 1958 he championed and developed the field of atmospheric chemistry
Atmospheric chemistry
Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science in which the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere and that of other planets is studied. It is a multidisciplinary field of research and draws on environmental chemistry, physics, meteorology, computer modeling, oceanography, geology and...
. His contributions to meteorology were noted in the Dec. 17, 1956 issue of Time Magazine. His portrait graced the cover that week.
See also
- Rossby numberRossby numberThe Rossby number, named for Carl-Gustav Arvid Rossby, is a dimensionless number used in describing fluid flow. The Rossby number is the ratio of inertial to Coriolis force, terms v\cdot\nabla v\sim U^2 / L and \Omega\times v\sim U\Omega in the Navier–Stokes equations, respectively...
- Rossby parameterRossby parameterThe Rossby parameter is a number used in geophysics and meteorology which arises due to the meridional variation of the Coriolis force caused by the spherical shape of the Earth...
- Rossby radius of deformationRossby radius of deformationIn atmospheric dynamics and physical oceanography, the Rossby radius of deformation is the length scale at which rotational effects become as important as buoyancy or gravity wave effects in the evolution of the flow about some disturbance....
- Rossby waveRossby waveAtmospheric Rossby waves are giant meanders in high-altitude winds that are a major influence on weather.They are not to be confused with oceanic Rossby waves, which move along the thermocline: that is, the boundary between the warm upper layer of the ocean and the cold deeper part of the...
- Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research MedalCarl-Gustaf Rossby Research MedalThe Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal is the highest award for atmospheric science of the American Meteorological Society. It is presented to individual scientists, who receive a medal...