British Admiral (then Commander) Sir Francis Beaufort, KCB developed the Beaufort Wind Scale in 1805. The scale provided a practical method for estimating the force of the wind on a ship at sea by means of an arbitrary scale running from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricanes) as shown in Table B1. In 1838 use of the Beaufort Wind Force Scale was made mandatory for log entries on all Royal Navy ships. In the scale’s original form (which has been greatly altered in most current versions), there is no mention of wind velocity, it specifically being a force scale.
The scale is made up of three associated lists — a list of 13 integers (Beaufort force numbers) from 0 through 12; a list of common words for the strength of the wind; and a list that describes the state and behavior of a “well conditioned man-of-war” (Kinsman, 1969). Beaufort, and all seafaring individuals, recognized distinct levels in the behavior of a man-of-war of the early 1800s operating under conditions of “clean full” (probably...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Fitzroy, R., 1839. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships, Adventure and Beagle, vol. 2. London: Henry Colburn.
Kinsman, B., 1969. Who put the wind speeds in Admiral Beaufort’s force scale, Oceans 2(2): 18–25.
Roll, H.U., 1965. Physics of the Marine Atmosphere. New York: Academic Press.
Simpson, G.C., 1926. The velocity equivalents of the Beaufort Scale. Air Ministry Professional Notes, No. 44. London: Meteorological Office.
Verploegh, G., 1956. The equivalent velocities of the Beaufort estimates of the wind force at sea. Koninkl. Nederlands Acad. Meteorol. Inst. Mededel. Verh. Monograph No. 66, pp. 1–38.
Cross-references
Local Winds
Wind Power Climatology
Winds and Wind Systems
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer
About this entry
Cite this entry
Mather, J.R. (2005). Beaufort Wind Scale. In: Oliver, J.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_28
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-3264-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-3266-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences