Synonyms
Beaufort wind force; Wind intensity
Definition
An empirical measure (0–12) for describing the force (speed) of the wind.
Discussion
The Beaufort scale of wind speed, which is displayed in the accompanying table, provides an ordinal scale for wind speed that ranges from 0 to 12 and is based on visual estimates (Table 1). It is named after Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort who developed the measure as a young naval officer and later introduced it for use by the British navy. In 1853, it was adopted for international use. Kinsman (1969), List (1951: p. 119), and WMO (1970) document the history.
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Kinsman, B., 1969. Historical notes on the original Beaufort scale. Marine Observer, 39, 116–124.
List, R. J., 1951. Smithsonian Meteorological Tables, 6th revised edition. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
World Meteorological Organization, 1970. The Beaufort Scale of Wind Force. Marine Science Affairs. Geneva, WMO: (Note: The recommendations in this report advocating new wind speed equivalents were not adopted).
World Meteorological Organization, 1995. Manual on codes, 1995 edition.http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/WMOCodes.html#ManualCodes.
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© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Beer, T. (2013). Beaufort Wind Scale. In: Bobrowsky, P.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_24
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