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The Emergence of Quasi-Geostrophic Theory*

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The Atmosphere — A Challenge

Abstract

This succinct statement by Charney is the climax of his 1948 paper “On the scale of atmospheric motions.” These 35 words must be considered among the most effective meteorological statements of this century. In Charney’s hands, for example, they led at once to successful methods for numerical weather prediction. Even more important, the codification of large-scale dynamical principles which they defined allowed ordinary meteorologists and fluid dynamicists to address these processes; it was no longer necessary to possess the special insight, experience, and intuition of a Bjerknes, Rossby, or Sutcliffe.

* Received February 1989

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Authors
  1. Norman A. Phillips
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, MIT, USA

    Richard S. Lindzen  & Edward N. Lorenz (emeritus member of the faculty) &  (emeritus member of the faculty)

  2. Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, USA

    George W. Platzman (emeritus member of the faculty) (emeritus member of the faculty)

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© 1990 American Meteorological Society

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Phillips, N.A. (1990). The Emergence of Quasi-Geostrophic Theory*. In: Lindzen, R.S., Lorenz, E.N., Platzman, G.W. (eds) The Atmosphere — A Challenge. American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-944970-35-2_11

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