Jule G. Charney
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Jule Gregory Charney (January 1, 1917 – June 16, 1981) was an American
meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...
who played an important role in developing numerical
weather prediction Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...
and increasing understanding of the general circulation of the atmosphere by devising a series of increasingly sophisticated mathematical models of the atmosphere. His work was the driving force behind many national and international weather initiatives and programs. Considered the father of modern dynamical meteorology, Charney is credited with having "guided the postwar evolution of modern meteorology more than any other living figure."National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir of Jule Charney
/ref> Charney's work also influenced that of his close colleague
Edward Lorenz Edward Norton Lorenz (May 23, 1917 – April 16, 2008) was an American mathematician and meteorologist who established the theoretical basis of weather and climate predictability, as well as the basis for computer-aided atmospheric physics and m ...
, who explored the limitations of predictability and was a pioneer of the field of
chaos theory Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary area of Scientific method, scientific study and branch of mathematics. It focuses on underlying patterns and Deterministic system, deterministic Scientific law, laws of dynamical systems that are highly sens ...
.


Biography

Charney was born in San Francisco, California, on January 1, 1917, to Jewish-Russian immigrants Ely Charney and Stella Littman, tailors in the garment industry. Charney spent most of his early life in California. After a 20-month battle with cancer, he died in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
at the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute at the age of 64.


Education

Charney earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
, culminating in a Ph.D. in physics in 1946. His Ph.D. dissertation, titled “The Dynamics of Long Waves in a
Baroclinic In fluid dynamics, the baroclinity (often called baroclinicity) of a stratified fluid is a measure of how misaligned the gradient of pressure is from the gradient of density in a fluid. In meteorology, a baroclinic flow is one in which the dens ...
Westerly Current” comprised the entire October 1947 issue of the Journal of Meteorology. The paper was influential because it emphasized the influence of “long waves” in the upper atmosphere on the behavior of the entire atmosphere rather than the more traditional emphasis on the polar front and also provided a way of analyzing perturbations along these waves that was both physically insightful and mathematically rigorous.


Career and legacy

Charney began his career at his alma mater, UCLA, as an instructor in physics and meteorology from 1941 to 1946. In 1946, Charney became a research associate at the University of Chicago under
Carl-Gustav Rossby Carl-Gustaf Arvid Rossby ( 28 December 1898 – 19 August 1957) was a Swedish-born American meteorologist who first explained the large-scale motions of the atmosphere in terms of fluid mechanics. He identified and characterized both the jet ...
, a Swedish-born American meteorologist whose theories of large-scale air movements helped revolutionize meteorology. From 1947 to 1948, Charney held a National Research Council postgraduate fellowship at the University of Oslo in Norway. During this year, he developed a technique known as the “quasi-geostrophic approximation” for calculating the large-scale motions of planetary-scale waves. Charney's quasi-geostrophic vorticity equations allowed for concise mathematical description of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulations, enabling future numerical weather prediction work.


Numerical weather prediction

In 1948, Charney joined the
Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...
(IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey, to explore the feasibility of applying digital computers to weather prediction as head of the Meteorological Research Group. Together with noted mathematician
John von Neumann John von Neumann ( ; ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian and American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist and engineer. Von Neumann had perhaps the widest coverage of any mathematician of his time, in ...
, Charney helped pioneer the use of computers and numerical techniques to improve weather forecasting, and played a leading role in efforts to integrate sea-air exchanges of energy and moisture into the study of climate. This collective work paved the way for the founding of
NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...
's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. In 1954, Charney helped create the Joint Numerical Weather Prediction Unit, a collaboration between the U.S. Weather Bureau, Air Force, and Navy. Charney would later serve as a member of the Committee on Atmospheric Sciences of the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
and as chairman of the academy's Committee on International Meteorological Cooperation. In those roles, he conceived and helped organize the Global Atmospheric Research Program, considered the most ambitious international effort in weather research ever undertaken.


Dynamic meteorology and oceanography

In 1956, Charney left IAS to become a professor of meteorology and director of the Atmospheric and Ocean Dynamics Project at MIT, where for 25 years he made major contributions in dynamic meteorology and oceanography research, including large-scale atmospheric turbulence, feedback interactions between the oceans and atmosphere, the persistence of certain abnormal flow patterns in the atmosphere, and the relationship of such phenomena to droughts. Among his many fundamental contributions to the field, Charney identified “
baroclinic instability In fluid dynamics, the baroclinity (often called baroclinicity) of a stratified fluid is a measure of how misaligned the gradient of pressure is from the gradient of density in a fluid. In meteorology, a baroclinic flow is one in which the dens ...
,” the first convincing physical explanation for the development of mid-latitude cyclones. Charney identified the mechanism that explains the size, structure, and growth rate of mid-latitude weather systems, and is a ubiquitous phenomenon in rotating, stratified fluids like our oceans and atmosphere. From 1974 to 1977, Charney headed the meteorology department at MIT. In addition to his revolutionizing research, Charney is remembered as a charismatic and optimistic professor among former students from MIT, where he remained until his death in 1981. Students describe falling into “orbit around the Charney sun.” There is a library named in Charney's honor in the building that holds the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheres and Planetary Sciences.


Charney Report

In 1979, Charney chaired an "ad hoc study group on carbon dioxide and climate" for the National Research Council. The resulting 22-page report, "Carbon dioxide and climate: A scientific assessment," is one of the earliest modern scientific assessments about
global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...
. Its main conclusion can be found on page 2: "We estimate the most probable global warming for a doubling of CO2 to be near 3°C with a probable error of ± 1.5°C." This estimate of
climate sensitivity Climate sensitivity is a key measure in climate science and describes how much Earth's surface will warm for a doubling in the atmospheric carbon dioxide () concentration. Its formal definition is: "The change in the surface temperature in resp ...
has been essentially unchanged for over four decades, e.g., the
IPCC Fourth Assessment Report ''Climate Change 2007'', the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), was published in 2007 and is the fourth in a series of reports intended to assess scientific, technical and soci ...
(2007) says that "equilibrium climate sensitivity is ''likely'' to be in the range 2°C to 4.5°C, with a best estimate value of about 3°C. It is ''very unlikely'' to be less than 1.5°C. Values substantially higher than 4.5°C cannot be excluded, but agreement with observations is not as good for those values." In 2019 climate scientists celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Charney report said "In retrospect, the Charney report seems like the scientific equivalent of the handwriting on the wall...Their warning was accurate and remains more relevant than ever."


Centenary celebration

In February 2018, MIT held a symposium, named MIT on Chaos and Climate, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charney and
Edward Lorenz Edward Norton Lorenz (May 23, 1917 – April 16, 2008) was an American mathematician and meteorologist who established the theoretical basis of weather and climate predictability, as well as the basis for computer-aided atmospheric physics and m ...
. The two-day event featured presentations from world-renowned experts on the many scientific contributions that the two pioneers made on the fields of numerical weather prediction, physical oceanography, atmospheric dynamics, and experimental fluid dynamics, as well as the personal legacy they left behind of integrity, optimism, and collaboration. In one presentation, Joseph Pedlosky, scientist emeritus at the Woods Hole Oceanography Institute and world leader in physical oceanography, said this of his friend and mentor Jule Charney:
"It's fair to say that Jule Charney turned the mystery of the erratic behavior of the atmosphere into a recognizable–although very, very difficult–problem in fluid physics. I would like, however, to talk today about Jule's more personal and I think equally vital contribution to our field, in terms of the inspiring generosity of spirit he showed that advanced the atmosphere of collaborative collegiality in our field. He set a standard for personal and scientific integrity that I think is often overlooked but of exceptional importance."
A video produced for the event highlights the indelible mark made by Charney and Lorenz on MIT and the field of meteorology as a whole.


Honors and awards

*1937 Elected to Phi Beta Kappa. *1961 Awarded the
Symons Gold Medal The Symons Gold Medal is awarded biennially by the Royal Meteorological Society for distinguished work in the field of meteorological science. It was established in 1901 in memory of George James Symons, a notable British meteorologist. Recipient ...
of the
Royal Meteorological Society The Royal Meteorological Society is an organization that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science. Fellows of the Society must possess relevant qualifications, but Members can be lay enthusiasts. It publishes vari ...
. *1964 Awarded the
Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal The 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. Named in honor of meteorology and oceanography pioneer Carl- ...
of the
American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is a scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance the atmosph ...
, for research that "led to a more fundamental understanding of the atmosphere's general circulation, hydrodynamical instability, the structure of hurricanes, the dynamics of ocean currents, the propagation of wave energy and many other aspects of geophysical fluid mechanics." *1966 Appointed the first Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
. *1969 Awarded the
Hodgkins Medal The Hodgkins Medal is awarded annually or biennially by the Smithsonian Institution for important contributions to the understanding of the physical environment as it affects the welfare of man. It was established in 1893 in honor of Thomas Georg ...
of the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
. *1971 Awarded the prestigious International Meteorological Organization Prize by the
World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...
. *1976 Awarded the
William Bowie Medal The William Bowie Medal is awarded annually by the American Geophysical Union for "outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research". The award is the highest honor given by the AGU and is named in honor ...
of the
American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...
. The
American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is a scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance the atmosph ...
annual presents the " Jule G. Charney Award" to individuals "in recognition of highly significant research or development achievement in the atmospheric or hydrologic sciences".


See also

*
Richard Lindzen Richard Siegmund Lindzen (born February 8, 1940) is an American atmospheric physicist known for his work in the dynamics of the middle atmosphere, atmospheric tides, and ozone photochemistry. He is the author of more than 200 scientific papers ...
*
Edward Norton Lorenz Edward Norton Lorenz (May 23, 1917 – April 16, 2008) was an American mathematician and meteorologist who established the theoretical basis of weather and climate predictability, as well as the basis for computer-aided atmospheric physics and me ...
*
Quasi-geostrophic equations While geostrophic motion refers to the wind that would result from an exact balance between the Coriolis force and horizontal pressure-gradient forces, quasi-geostrophic (QG) motion refers to flows where the Coriolis force and pressure gradient ...
*
Geostrophic wind In atmospheric science, geostrophic flow () is the theoretical wind that would result from an exact balance between the Coriolis force and the pressure gradient force. This condition is called '' geostrophic equilibrium'' or ''geostrophic balanc ...
* Eric Eady *
Isidoro Orlanski Isidoro Orlanski (born 1939) is an Argentine-American atmospheric physicist, meteorologist, and ocean scientist. He is known for his contributions to the dynamics of weather systems, ocean currents and mesoscale meteorology. He is an emeritus p ...


References


External links


Guide to the Papers of Jule G. Charney
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charney, Jule Gregory American meteorologists Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal recipients 1917 births 1981 deaths Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences