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The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis
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193 pages | 5 x 9 | PAPERBACK
ISBN 978-0-309-35922-1 | DOI 10.17226/21272
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GET THIS BOOK Panel on International Meteorological Cooperation; Committee on Atmospheric
Sciences; National Research Council
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The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment
THE FEASIBILITY
OFA
GLOBAL OBSERVATION
AND ANALYSIS
EXPERIMENT
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment
t!HE
FEASIBILITY
OFA
GLOBAL OBSERVATION
AND ANALYSIS
EXPERIMENT
A Report of the
PANEL ON INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL COOPERATION
~~
to the
~OMMITTEE ON ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
1/
PUBLICATION 1290
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
WASHINGTON, D. C. 1966
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment
Library of Congress Card Catalog No. 65·60097
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Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment
March ~1. 1966
Dear Dr. Seitz:
It is my pleasure to transmit to you the report of the Panel on
International Meteorological Cooperation. The report has been re·
viewed and approved unanimously by the parent Committee on
Atmospheric Sciences.
The Panel was established by the Committee two years ago to pre
pare a specific response from the United States scientific community
to Resolution 1802 of the United Nations, which invited the Inter
national Council of Scientific Unions through its constituent unions
and member academies "to develop an extended programme of atmos
pheric science research which will complement the programmes fos
tered by the World Meteorological Organization."
Particular attention is focused in this report on the scientific and
technological components of an international cooperative effort to
obtain a physical definition of the large-scale motions of the entire
lower atmosphere. The implications of this effort with respect to
improved weather forecasts and the exploration of climat.ic change
are of great interest to many sections of the scientific community.
The preparation of the present report has benefited materially from
extensive discussions with our colleagues in other countries, and from
a detailed review of many of its ideas in connection with the White
House Conference on International Cooperation held in late Novem
ber 1965. I am particularly pleased to report the deep interest in this
program by scientists in other parts of the world and the warm en
dorsement given by the participants in the White House conference.
We urge that this report be transmitted to the unions and adhering
bodies of the International Council of Scientific Unions as our con
tribution to the development of an important and exciting inter
national program.
Sincerely yours,
r-"''Utf
o~4111 ~
Thomas F. Malone, Chairman
Committee on Atmospheric Sciences
Dr. Frederick Seitz
National Academy of Sciences
Washington, D. C.
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment
Committee on Atmospheric
Sciences
MEMBERS
THOMAS F. MAWNE, Chairman; The Travelers Insurance Company
HENRY G. BOOKER, University of California at San Diego
GEORGE F. CAIUUER, Harvard University
JULE G. CHARNEY, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
•HuGH L. DRYDEN, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
MICHAEL FERENCE, JR., Ford Motor Company
ROBERT G. FLEAGLE, University of Washington
HERBERT FRIEDMAN, Naval Research Laboratory
MARX XAC, Rockefeller University
WILLIAM w. XELWGC, National Center for Atmospheric Research
G. GORDON LITTLE, Central Radio Propagation Laboratory
GORDON J. F. MACDONALD, University of California at Los Angeles
EDWARD TELLER, University of California at Livermore
PHILIP D. THOMPSON, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Panel on International
Meteorological Cooperation
MEMBERS
JULE G. CHARNEY, Chairman; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ROBERT G. FLEAGLE, University of Washington
VINCENT E. LALLY, National Center for Atmospheric Research
HERBERT RIEHL, Colorado State University
DAVID Q. WARK, U. S. Weather Bureau
•Deceased December 2. 1965
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment
FoREWORD
1'he development of new data-processing and space technologies ha,
created uqprecedented opportunities for advances in meteorological
theory and practice. These developments have been noted at the
highest levels of government and have led to recommendations for
international cooperation in atmospheric research and weather fore
casting. A fundamental requirement for both endeavors is a con
siderable expansion in data coverage. In November 1963, the
Committee on Atmospheric Sciences of the National Academy of
Sciences appointed the Panel on International Meteorological Co
operation to study the desirability and feasibility of conducting a
global observational experiment to measure the state and motion of
the entire lower atmosphere for a limited period of time.
The study logically fell into two parts: first, the evaluation of the
scientific needs for observations on a global scale, and second, the
determination of the technical feasibility of possible observational
systems. In addition, since global observations of large-scale motions
define the physical system only when the small-scale turbulent eddy
transports of heat, momentum, and moisture are related to the prop
erties of the large-scale flow, a series of regional observational experi-
vii
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment
viii Foreword
ments was studied as a source of data from which the necessary rela
tionships could be inferred.
Many of the questions involved had already been discussed in various
governmental reports, in reports of the World Meteorological Organi
zation, and in a report issued by the ad hoc Committee on Interna
tional Programs in Atmospheric Sciences and Hydrology, of the
Academy's Geophysics Research Board, and under the chairmanship
of S. Petterssen. In the preparation of the latter report, the subpanel
on Atmospheric Transfer Processes, Structures, Circulations, Weather
Prediction and Modification, under the chairmanship of R. M. White,
had explored some of the scientific questions in considerable detail.
The present report relies heavily on its conclusions. It has also made
J.
use of a position paper prepared by G. Charney for the Committee
on Atmospheric Sciences. This paper was discussed by a group of
scientists at a meeting at the National Academy of Sciences on April
29, 1962.
The first part of this study was conducted through informal dis
cussion between the chairman of the panel and a group of consultants,
and was supplemented by a series of computations bearing on the
problems of predictability and data requirements. These were carried
out at the following institutions: the Livermore Laboratories of the
University of California, the University of California at Los Angeles,
the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of the U.S. Weather
Bureau in Washington, D.C., the National Center for Atmospheric
Research in Boulder, Colorado, and the Goddard Institute for Space
Studies of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
in New York City. A study of turbulent-flux research was conducted
by a working group under the chairmanship of R. G. Fleagle of the
University of Washington, and a special study of the scientific require
ments for observations in the tropics was made by H. Riehl of Colo
rado State University in collaboration with N. E. LaSeur of Florida
State University.
It was obvious from the beginning that a global extension of the
existing observational network by conventional means was not feasible.
Although attractive possibilities exist for an extension of the network
to presently unobserved oceanic regions by aerologkal soundings taken
from commercial ships and from additional island stations, a full
global coverage by this means did not appear economically feasible.
It was likewise apparent that while remote radiometric measurements
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
The Feasibility of a Global Observation and Analysis Experiment
Foreword ix
taken from a satellite could yield valuable information on the thermal
structure of the atmosphere above cloud tops, and possibly also within
clouds, they could not yield all the relevant dynamic parameters. The
system that seemed to offer the greatest promise was one consisting of
satellites collecting and transmitting data gathered by constant-volume
balloons and fixed or floating buoys, as well as making radiometric
measurements in the infrared, and possibly also the microwave regions
of the electromagnetic spectrum. It was accordingly decided to con·
fine the technical feasibility study to the investigation of this system.
Establishment of the feasibility of a single system provides a concrete
standard against which to compare others. In doing so we do not
imply that this is the only possible system, or that some combination
of several systems may not ultimately prove to be optimal.
The study of the feasibility of a satellite-balloon-buoy-radiometric
system was undertaken by a number of working groups. A fully inte
grated balloon-satellite system was investigated by a group under the
chairmanship of V. E. Lally of the National Center for Atmospheric
Research. A satellite system for the location and interrogation of
fixed and moving stations has been designed by the Goddard Space
Flight Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Another such system, which was planned specifically for use with bal
loons, has been designed by the French National Center of Space
Studies. While the latter two system designs are not integral parts of
the present study, they do demonstrate the feasibility of the satellite
as a data-collection and location instrument. Discussions were held
J.
with M. Tepper and L. Fong of NASA headquarters, W. Townsend,
E. A. Neil, and G. D. Hogan of the Goddard Space Flight Center, and
V. E. Suomi of the U.S. Weather Bureau to compare design concepts
and to reconcile divergences in points of view. Similar discussions
were held with J. E. Blamont and P. Morel of the French Center of
Space Studies.
The study of ocean-surface observations was conducted by the
aforementioned working group of R. G. Fleagle, and the study of
satellite radiometry was conducted by D. Q. Wark of the U.S. Weather
Bureau in consultation with a number of advisers in the fields of
infrared and microwave spectroscopy. In addition, special studies of
J.
the problem of balloon dispersal were carried out by K. Angell
of the U.S. Weather Bureau, F. Mesinger of the National Center for
Atmospheric Research, and Y. Mintz of the University of California
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
