Carl-Gustaf Arvid Rossby ( 28 December 1898 – 19 August 1957) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

-born 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 first explained the large-scale motions of the

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

in terms of

fluid mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasma (physics), plasmas) and the forces on them. Originally applied to water (hydromechanics), it found applications in a wide range of discipl ...

. He identified and characterized both the

jet stream Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow thermal wind, air currents in the Earth's Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere. The main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are westerly winds, flowing west to east around the gl ...

and the long waves in the

westerlies The westerlies, anti-trades, or prevailing westerlies, are prevailing winds from the west toward the east in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude. They originate from the high-pressure areas in the horse latitudes (about ...

that were later named

Rossby waves Rossby waves, also known as planetary waves, are a type of inertial wave naturally occurring in rotating fluids. They were first identified by Sweden-born American meteorologist Carl-Gustaf Arvid Rossby in the Earth's atmosphere in 1939. They ar ...

Biography

Carl-Gustaf Rossby was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the first of five children born to Arvid and Alma Charlotta (Marelius) Rossby. He attended

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

, where he developed his first interest in mathematical physics. Rossby came into

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

and

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

while studying geophysics under

Vilhelm Bjerknes Vilhelm Friman Koren Bjerknes ( , ; 14 March 1862 – 9 April 1951) was a Norwegian geophysicist and meteorologist who did much to lay the foundation of the modern practice of weather forecasting. He formulated the primitive equations that are s ...

at the

Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen The Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen () is a marine research facility located in Bergen, Norway. Founded in 1917 by Bjørn Helland-Hansen, the institute studies the field of oceanography dealing with the patterns of the weather in the ...

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, Norway, during 1919, where Bjerknes' group was developing the groundbreaking concepts that became known as the

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. Vilhelm Bjerknes and his younger colleagues in 1917, the Bergen School attempts to define the m ...

, including theory of the

polar front In meteorology, the polar front is the weather front boundary between the polar cell and the Ferrel cell around the 60° latitude, near the polar regions, in both hemispheres. At this boundary a sharp gradient in temperature occurs between thes ...

Meteorologisches Observatorium Lindenberg

He also studied at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

and at the Lindenberg Observatory (''Meteorologisches Observatorium Lindenberg'') in

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

where upper air measurements by kite and

balloon A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...

were researched. In 1921 he returned to Stockholm to join the Meteorological and Hydrographic Office (which later became the

Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (, SMHI) is a Swedish government agency and operates under the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise. SMHI has expertise within the areas of meteorology, hydrology and oceanography, and has exte ...

) where he served as a meteorologist on a variety of oceanographic expeditions. While ashore between expeditions, he studied

mathematical physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...

at the

( Filosofie Licentiat, 1925). 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 The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, he combined theoretical work on atmospheric

turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between ...

with the establishment of the first weather service for

civil aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, which can be both private and commercial. Most countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and ...

. In 1928 he became associate professor in the Aeronautics Department of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT). Shortly after this MIT launched the first department of meteorology in the US. In 1931 he also became a research associate at

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

. His interests during this time ranged over

atmospheric thermodynamics Atmospheric thermodynamics is the study of heat-to-Work (physics), work transformations (and their reverse) that take place in the Earth's atmosphere and manifest as weather or climate. Atmospheric thermodynamics use the laws of classical thermodyn ...

, mixing and

, and the interaction between

ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

s and the

. On 9 January 1939 he became an American citizen and in that same 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 The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1940 began the period in which he turned his attention to large-scale atmospheric motions. He identified and characterized both the

and

Rossby wave Rossby waves, also known as planetary waves, are a type of inertial wave naturally occurring in rotating fluids. They were first identified by Sweden-born American meteorologist Carl-Gustaf Arvid Rossby in the Earth's atmosphere in 1939. They ...

s in the atmosphere. Smhiofficesnorrkoping

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Rossby organized 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 is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

description of atmospheric dynamics to

weather forecasting Weather forecasting or weather prediction is the application of science and technology forecasting, to predict the conditions of the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather info ...

by electronic computer, having started this activity in Sweden using

BESK BESK (''Binär Elektronisk SekvensKalkylator'', Swedish language, Swedish for "Binary Electronic Sequence Calculator") was Sweden's first electronic computer, using vacuum tubes instead of relays. It was developed by ''Matematikmaskinnämnden ...

. In 1947 he became founding director of the

(SMHI) in Stockholm, dividing his time between there, the University of Chicago and with the

. After the war he visited an old friend Professor

Hans Ertel Hans Ertel (March 24, 1904 in Berlin – July 2, 1971 in Berlin) was a German natural scientist and a pioneer in geophysics, meteorology and hydrodynamics. Life and work Hans Ertel began his scientific career at the former ''Preußischen Meteorolog ...

in Berlin. Their cooperation led to the mathematical formulation of

. Between 1954 and his death in Stockholm in 1957, he championed and developed the field of

atmospheric chemistry Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science that studies the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere and that of other planets. This multidisciplinary approach of research draws on environmental chemistry, physics, meteorology, comput ...

. His contributions to meteorology were noted in the December 17, 1956, issue of ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine. His portrait appeared on the cover of that issue, the first meteorologist on the cover of a major magazine. During this period he considered the effect of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

in the atmosphere and its potential warming effect.

Selected works

*''The layer of frictional influence in wind and ocean currents'' (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) – 1935 *''Weather estimates from local aerological data: A preliminary report'' (Institute of Meteorology of the University of Chicago) – 1942 *''Kinematic and hydrostatic properties of certain long waves in the westerlies'' (Institute of Meteorology of the University of Chicago) – 1942

Honors

*Elected member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

(1934) *Elected member of the United States

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 ...

(1943) *

Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of t ...

(jointly with H. C. Willett) –

Sylvanus Albert Reed Sylvanus Albert Reed (8 April 1854 – 1 October 1935) was an American aeronautical engineer who developed the modern metal aircraft propeller. Early life and career Reed Graduated from Columbia University in 1874. He worked as an engineer spec ...

Award (1934) *Elected president of the American Meteorological Society (1944–45) *Elected member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

(1946) *

– Robert M. Losey Award (1946) *

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 ...

–

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 ...

(1953) *

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 ...

–

International Meteorological Organization Prize The International Meteorological Organization Prize is awarded annually by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for outstanding contributions in the field of meteorology and, since 1971, the field of operational hydrology. The prize, esta ...

(1957) *

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 ...

– Applied Meteorology Award (1959)

References

Other sources

* Horace R. Byers ─
''Carl-Gustaf Arvid Rossby. 1898–1957. A Biographical Memoir''
(National Academy of Sciences) * Norman A. Phillips �
''Special Session Honoring the Centennial of the Birth of Carl-Gustaf A. Rossby''
(American Meteorological Society)

External links

Rossby Centre at SMHI

Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossby, Carl-Gustaf 1898 births 1957 deaths Stockholm University alumni University of Bergen alumni Leipzig University alumni Fluid dynamicists Atmospheric chemists Swedish meteorologists American meteorologists American oceanographers Swedish emigrants to the United States MIT School of Engineering faculty University of Chicago faculty Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal recipients Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society