__NOTOC__ The "Bergen School of Meteorology" is a school of thought which is the basis for much of modern

weather forecasting Weather forecasting 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 informally for millennia a ...

. Founded by the meteorologist Prof. Vilhelm Bjerknes and his younger colleagues in 1917, the Bergen School attempts to define the motion of the

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...

by means of the

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

of interactions between

hydro- Hydro from Ancient Greek word ὕδωρ (húdōr), meaning ''water''. Hydro may also refer to: Energy technologies * Water-derived power or energy: ** Hydropower, derived from water ** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form * "Hydro", AC mains ...

and

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of the ...

, some of which had originally been discovered or explained by Bjerknes himself, thus making mathematical predictions regarding the

weather 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 ...

possible by systematic data analysis. Much of the work was done at the

Geophysical Institute The Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks conducts research into space physics and aeronomy; atmospheric sciences; snow, ice, and permafrost; seismology; volcanology; and tectonics and sedimentation. It was founded in 1946 by ...

University of Bergen The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...

, in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The Bergen School was crucial in the early development and operationalization of numerical weather forecasting in the 1940s and 1950s, which was largely a cooperation between

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n and US researchers. In this development, extant meteorological theories were synthesized. Due to the vast amount of calculations necessary for producing viable forecasts, the mathematical models were adapted to computer programs. The cross-Atlantic cooperations was also important to the development of the Bergen School and the Norwegian meteorology community Kristiansen, T. A. (2017). Meteorologi på reise: Veivalg og impulser i Arnt Eliassen og Ragnar Fjørtofts forskerkarrierer eteorology on travel: Crossroads and impulses in the research careers of Arnt Eliassen and Ragnar Fjørtoft Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Bergen.

Bjerknes' assistants during the period 1917–1926

Jacob Bjerknes Jacob Aall Bonnevie Bjerknes ( , ; 2 November 1897 – 7 July 1975) was a meteorologist. He is known for his key paper in which he pointed the dynamics of the polar front, mechanism for north-south heat transport and for which he was also awar ...

* Halvor Solberg *

Tor Bergeron Tor Bergeron (15 August 1891 – 13 June 1977) was a Sweden, Swedish meteorologist who proposed a mechanism for the formation of precipitation (meteorology), precipitation in clouds. In the 1930s, Bergeron and W. Findeisen developed the concept th ...

Carl-Gustaf 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 ...

Sverre Petterssen Sverre Petterssen (19 February 1898 – 31 December 1974) was a Norwegian meteorologist, prominent in the field of weather analysis and forecasting. Early life Born in Norway into a humble family, he paid for his higher education by working at ...

Erik Palmén Erik Herbert Palmén (31 August 1898 – 19 March 1985) was a Finnish meteorologist, born in Vaasa. He worked at the University of Chicago in the Chicago school of meteorology (started by Carl-Gustaf Rossby) on cyclones and weather fronts with Vi ...

Erik Björkdal Erik Anton Björkdal was a Swedish meteorologist who studied at the Bergen School of Meteorology where the theory of fronts was developed. His contribution was mainly in the field of dynamic meteorology. Among his works, mention must be made of th ...

* Svein Rosseland *

Carl Ludvig Godske Carl Ludvig Schreiner Godske (20 May 1906 – 3 July 1970) was a Norwegian mathematician and meteorologist. He was born in Bindal. He was a member of the Bergen School of Meteorology, working as meteorologist in Bergen from 1938, and appointed ...

Johan Sandström Johan Wilhelm Sandström (6 June 1874, Degerfors, Västerbotten County – 12 January 1947, Bromma, Stockholm County), usually cited as J. W. Sandström, was a Swedish oceanographer and meteorologist. He is most famously known for conducting a s ...

References

Vilhelm Bjerknes' Vision for Scientific Weather Prediction

External links

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by

Arnt Eliassen Arnt Eliassen (9 September 1915 – 22 April 2000) was a Norwegian meteorologist who was a pioneer in the use of numerical analysis and computers for weather forecasting. Career The early pioneer work was done at the Institute for Advanced ...

with description of the School Synoptic meteorology and weather Meteorology in history {{climate-stub

Bjerknes' assistants during the period 1917–1926

See also

References

External links