What is recorded here?
The1939paper relates large-scale pressure-pattern motion to changes of zonal circulation using absolute-vorticity conservation and an explicitly simplified latitude-dependent rotating-fluid calculation. As an air column moves north or south,the Earth's contribution to its spin changes. In the paper's idealizedmodel,thecolumn's relative spin compensates,and that constraint makes a wavypattern move at a speed depending on wavelength and background wind. A pattern can standstill even while airpasses throughit. Rossby links this mechanism to contemporaryweathercharts while distinguishing forced geographical patterns fromfreewaves. The originalbyline saysRossbyandcollaborators: H.C.Willett led synopticcharts withJ.Holmboe/J.Namias; L.Page ledstatisticalwork withR.Allen. Their named work is retained without assuming identical roles.
Source-linked catalogue note. A detailed explanatory guide has not yet been prepared for this entry.
Scientific scope
The wave calculation linearizes idealized horizontal flow around a specified zonal background with a constant Coriolis gradient. Latitude-dependent shear, forcing and depth corrections need additional approximations; some extensions in the original remain incomplete. Weather illustrations are not causal proof or held-out forecast skill. The source’s collective and individually named contributors retain their distinct roles.
Read the original work
- Rossby and collaborators:Relation between zonal circulation and centers of action(1939),original38–55
- YaleJMR1939repositorymetadata and expanded recommended citation
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People and systems
Carl-Gustaf Rossby
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English catalogue narrative
Rossby and collaborators: how planetary waves move through the westerlies
The1939paper relates large-scale pressure-pattern motion to changes of zonal circulation using absolute-vorticity conservation and an explicitly simplified latitude-dependent rotating-fluid calculation.
As an air column moves north or south,the Earth's contribution to its spin changes. In the paper's idealizedmodel,thecolumn's relative spin compensates,and that constraint makes a wavypattern move at a speed depending on wavelength and background wind. A pattern can standstill even while airpasses throughit. Rossby links this mechanism to contemporaryweathercharts while distinguishing forced geographical patterns fromfreewaves. The originalbyline saysRossbyandcollaborators: H.C.Willett led synopticcharts withJ.Holmboe/J.Namias; L.Page ledstatisticalwork withR.Allen. Their named work is retained without assuming identical roles.
Scientific scope
The wave calculation linearizes idealized horizontal flow around a specified zonal background with a constant Coriolis gradient. Latitude-dependent shear, forcing and depth corrections need additional approximations; some extensions in the original remain incomplete. Weather illustrations are not causal proof or held-out forecast skill. The source’s collective and individually named contributors retain their distinct roles.
People and systems
Carl-Gustaf Rossby