The General Circulation of the Atmosphere: 2000 Program of Study in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
Abstract
In its millennial session, the GED program focused on "The General Circulation of the Atmosphere." Isaac Held led the charge with an inspiring two-week introductory course, strongly supported by the lectures of Alan Plumb, Wayne Schubert, Michael Cullen, and Oliver Buehler. As the dust settled, the important concept of pseudomomentum shone brightly in the sky above Walsh Cottage. This is a concept which has virtually transformed meteorology within the past 20 years, yet it remains mostly unfamiliar to oceanographers and others. Thus our "pseudomomentum summer", perfectly fit the GFD mission of diffusing ideas across disciplinary boundaries. As the summer wore on, the range of topics broadened in its customary way to include: the general circulation of Jupiter and Mars; lattice-Boltzmann and gas-kinetic methods for solving the equations of fluid mechanics; the scattering of sound waves by vortices; the heating of the universe; and many more topics too numerous to list. For an accurate impression of the program's activities, the reader should be sure to scan the 2000 lecture schedule. Our 9 GFD fellows--all attending American or Canadian universities, but representing America, Italy, Barbados, Greece, Ghana and China--seemed to thrive in this atmosphere, holding up well under the pressure of the full lecture schedule and the deadline for research projects. Once again I must apologize to the many excellent applicants who were not selected to be fellows.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA388836
Entities
People
- Isaac M. Held
- Rick Salmon
Organizations
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution