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BERNHARD HAURWITZ
August 14, 1905-February 22, 1986
BY JULIUS LONDON
BERNHARD HAURWITZ WAS AN unusually productive physical
scientist en c! educator throughout his aclult life. His
principal scientific interests en c! accomplishments were in
the area of dynamic meteorology, that is, the application of
mathematics en c! Quit! dynamics to all scales of atmospheric
motions. In aciclition to his many basic contributions to the
study of short-perioc! atmospheric wave motions, planetary
waves, inclucling atmospheric ticles, en c! vortex motions in
tropical cyclones, he wrote important papers on such sub-
jects as atmospheric racliation, wave structure of noctilu-
cent cloucis, en c! attempts to document internal ticles in the
oceans. The main directions of his work were in both ana-
lytic en c! diagnostic investigations of the structure en c! mo-
tions of the atmosphere.
Although primarily a theoretician, Haurwitz enjoyed work-
ing with observer! atmospheric en c! oceanic ciata. His analy-
ses were always clirectec! towarc! gaining insight into the
physical structure en c! important physical processes in the
atmosphere. This was already evident in his Ph.D. thesis on
the relations between changes of atmospheric pressure en c!
temperature and continued throughout his research career.
In general, he preferred writing short papers, with the idea
87
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that they would be more apt to be read than Tong ones. At
the memorial for Haurwitz at the National Center for At-
mospheric Research (NCAR), Philip Thompson, who had
an almost continuous association with him for about forty
years, commented, 1 gradually came to realize that the
range of Bernhard's interests and contributions spanned
virtually the whole range of atmospheric science."
His role as an educator went beyond the more than fifty
years he spent in active involvement at different academic
institutions. Two of his textbooks were still listed in the
Science Citation Index covering the five-year period of 1988-
92.
EARLY YEARS
Bernhard Haurwitz was born in GIogau, Germany, in 1905,
to upper-middle-class parents. His father, Paul Haurwitz,
was a reasonably successful merchant in the city. He had a
younger sister, Ilse, who was born in ~ 907. While still a
teenager, he developed an interest in astronomy and, to-
gether with his friend Wolfgang Gleissberg, became a coop-
erative solar observer, sending sunspot information to the
central solar observatory in Zurich, Switzerland. This inter-
est in solar phenomena stayed with him through his entire
professional life.
.
--a
Haurwitz completed his Gymnasium (high school) stud-
~es, specializing in classical languages (Latin and Greek)
and in mathematics and physics. In ~ 923, at the age of
eighteen, he enrolled at the University of BresTau, where he
spent one and a half years before going on to the Univer-
sity of Gottingen where he studied mathematics, physics,
and geophysics. In Gottingen he took courses from Richard
Courant, Richard Frank, Emil Wiechert, and others. It was
during that time that he developed an interest in meteorol-
ogy as a result of preparing to present a seminar in his
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89
course in geophysics. The paper he reviewoc! was on the
subject of atmospheric waves written by Ludwig Weickmann,
then professor of geophysics at the University of Leipzig.
He cleciclec! to apply to Professor Weickmann to write his
Ph.D. thesis at the Geophysical Institute in Leipzig en c! was
soon accepted.
Haurwitz arriver! at the University of Leipzig in 1925 en c!
began work on his thesis uncler Weickmann's direction. The
thesis macle use of then-available ciata from self-registering
atmospheric souncling balloons. (Racliosoncle observations
became available only after their clevelopment in the late
1920s.) His thesis was motivates! by observations that weather
systems tenclec! to move along with patterns of large sur-
face-pressure changes. Haurwitz's results inclicatec! that an
atmospheric pressure decrease at the surface, accompanies!
by a surface-temperature increase, is associates! with a pres-
sure increase at levels near the tropopause, a relation to be
anticipates! if hydrostatic conditions obtain. This effect wouIc!
suggest the existence of a layer in micitroposphere where
the wine! field! was geostrophic en c! thus nondivergent, an
important assumption macle in the late 1940s at the time of
early numerical weather precliction efforts as applier! to two-
climensional flow at 500 mb.
After completing his dissertation (1927) en c! his seconc!
(habilitation) thesis ~ ~ 93 ~ ), Haurwitz became a lecturer at
the University of Leipzig. It was there that he first heart!
guest lectures from the early British en c! Scandinavian pio-
neers in atmospheric en c! ocean dynamics namely, Lewis
F. Richardson, Vilhelm Bjerknes, en c! Haralc! U. Svercirup.
Haurwitz was impressed with the lectures en c! subject mat-
ter presented en c! arranger! for a three-month visit to Osio
en c! Bergen in early 1929. Thus, he conic! interact with me-
teorologists who were in the forefront of research in geo-
physical fluid dynamics (Oslo) and synoptic meteorology
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(Bergen). This research was of particular interest to him
since his own studies at that time involves! methods of solv-
ing the highly nonlinear problems of wave motions in the
atmosphere en c! oceans by a simplification process baser!
on perturbation approximations to the nonlinear equations.
This technique continues! to be user! extensively before nu-
merical methods of solution were practical as a result of the
clevelopment of high-speec! computers. IncleecI, up to that
time, applier! mathematicians wouIc! quip that there were
two types of clifferential equations linear en c! nonsolvable!
In an article written for the Compendium of Meteorology in
1951, Haurwitz reviewoc! the rationale for the use of the
perturbation equations as a methoc! of getting closecI-form
solutions to problems in atmospheric dynamics.
During his stay in Norway, Haurwitz spent most of his
time working on problems of fluic! dynamics with Scanclina-
vian colleagues Halvor Solberg en c! H. U. Svercirup en c!
with a young student at that time, {organ Holmboe, with
whom he frequently went skiing. As a matter of fact, one of
the attractions for his Norwegian visit was the increaser!
opportunity for cross-country skiing and mountain hiking,
which were his favorite sports. These interests certainly playact
a nontrivial role some thirty years later in his decision to
move to BouIcler, Coloraclo.
While in Osio he also occasionally visited with Car! Stormer,
who was involved in a program of observations of the height
of occurrence en c! main features of the polar aurora. This
experience clearly contributes! to his later interests en c! re-
search applier! to upper-atmosphere phenomena.
Upon his return from Norway, Haurwitz continues! to
work on the problem of wave motions in a compressible
fluicI, the general area of his main interest when he came
to the Geophysical Institute in Leipzig. He user! this subject
for his "Habilitationsschrift." His research quickly became
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focuses! on the problem of short-wave "billow" cloucis that
appear at the interface of a two-layer moclel in the atmo-
sphere (or oceans). By introducing assumptions of inhomo-
geneity, stratification, compressibility, en c! wine! shear across
the interface, Haurwitz was able to get goof! agreement
between theory en c! observations of the billow clouc! wave-
lengths en c! periods. He returnee! to this problem off en c!
on over the next forty years en c! extenclec! his moclel appli-
cations in an attempt to explain waves associates! with noc-
tiTucent cloucis.
After completion of his thesis en c! professional examina-
tion, Haurwitz became a lecturer at the University of Leipzig.
During the next two years he gave a set of three courses in
atmospheric physics: atmospheric acoustics, meteorological
optics, en c! atmospheric racliation. Haurwitz then felt that
it wouic! be interesting to spenc! some time abroad, en c! at
the invitation of CarI-Gustaf Rossby, who was then associate
professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he
came to the Uniter! States in 1932 for what was supposes! to
be a relatively brief seven-month visit.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
(1932-41)
Bernharc! Haurwitz arriver! in the Uniter! States in Octo-
oer 1932 to share a temporary appointment at MIT en c! the
Blue Hill Observatory of Harvard. He cliviclec! his time be-
tween giving a series of lectures at MIT on problems re-
latec! to the integration of the atmospheric perturbation
equations and a research program at the Blue Hill Observa-
tory involving, among other things, analysis of solar raclia-
tion ciata en c! their use in determination of atmospheric
turbidity. Among the graduate students at MIT who attenclec!
his lectures en c! who later macle significant contributions in
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meteorology en c! oceanography were Harry WexTer, Jerome
Namias, Athelstan Spilhaus, en c! Raymonc! Montgomery.
During his stay in the Boston-Cambricige area, he also
worker! on a problem that hac! intrigues! him for some time.
In the absence of high-flying aircraft or other practical meth-
ocis of measuring the micitropospheric pressure in en c! arounc!
hurricanes, it hac! commonly been assumer! that tropical
cyclones extenclec! only to heights of about 2 to 3 km above
the ocean surface. No one up to that time hac! attemptec!
to determine the vertical extent of these storms, that is, the
height at which the pressure wouIc! be horizontally uni
form. Haurwitz assumer! that atmospheric columns near
the center en c! the outer part of the storm are each in
approximate hydrostatic equilibrium en c! that the vertically
averages! mean temperature near the center of the storm is
warmer than that at the outer part. He was then able to
show that the level of the pressure equalization the height
of uniform pressure arounc! the storm was approximately
10 km. This height range was, of course, substantially veri-
fiec! as both direct en c! indirect measurements became avail-
able. Moreover, he was also able to show that the shape of
the eye of the storm approximates! that of a funnel, as
verified by later observations.
In early 1933 Haurwitz acceptec! an invitation from the
seismologist Beno Gutenberg, a former colleague in Ger-
many, to visit the California Institute of Technology in Pasa-
clena where he gave lectures on atmospheric dynamics.
Among the attendees at these lectures was Albert Einstein,
who hac! just come from Berlin to spenc! the winter at
CalTech. A short time after Haurwitz's arrival at Pasadena,
Adolf Hitler was appointee! chancellor of the German Reich.
Both Haurwitz en c! Einstein inclepenclently chose not to
return to Germany. Haurwitz decided that when his visitor's
visa expires! he wouic! apply for a visa extension en c! investi
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gate the possibility of a position in Canada. He was able to
get a research appointment in the physics department at
the University of Toronto through a Carnegie Institution
grant. However, it took two years, until the summer of 1935,
before the clerical rec! tape was straightenec! out. Mean-
while, he spent those two years continuing his lectures en c!
research at MIT en c! the Blue Hill Observatory.
In 1934 he marries! Eva Schick, who hac! clone her aca-
clemic studies in Germany in physics before immigrating to
the Uniter! States. They went to Toronto in 1935 where he
worker! at the University of Toronto en c! the Canaclian Me-
teorological Service for the next six years before they re-
turnec! to the Uniter! States in 1941.
Haurwitz came to Toronto as a Carnegie Institution fel-
low (1935-37) in the physics department at the University
of Toronto en c! continues! as a visiting lecturer in the cle-
partment until 1941. When the Carnegie fellowship enclecI,
he took a position as meteorologist with the Canaclian Me-
teorological Service (1937-41~. The Canaclian Service hac!
set up a cooperative meteorological training program with
the physics department at the University of Toronto, en c!
each year he gave a regular graduate course in dynamic
meteorology. In aciclition, he presented a series of eight
lectures at the university on the subject of "The Physical
State of the Upper Atmosphere." The lectures were basecI,
in part, on the course he gave while he was at the Univer-
sity of Leipzig. They were publisher! as a series in the iour-
nal of the Royal Astronomical Society (Canacia) en c! as a special
short book in 1937. Although the material in that book is
now almost completely out of ciate, it was the first book of
its kind and summarized what was then known about the
"upper atmosphere." A second edition was published in 1941,
when a large-scale meteorological training program was
started during the early period of World War II.
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By 1940 there was also increased need for a new English-
language textbook on dynamic meteorology. This gave
Haurwitz the opportunity to refine en c! Alit his lecture notes.
His book, Dynamic Meteorology, was also publisher! in 1941,
at the time of the rapic! increase in the training of meteo-
rologists in the Uniter! States cluring WorIc! War II. The
book was wiclely user! as a stanciarc! textbook on dynamic
meteorology for the next twenty years.
The meteorology program at the University of Toronto
was also user! to train people newly hirer! by the Canaclian
Meteorological Service. As a result, Haurwitz spent consicI-
erable time in Toronto preparing eclucational programs for
weather forecasters en c! instructional booklets for the Brit-
ish Commonwealth Air Training Plan. In ~ 938 Eva gave
birth to their son, Frank. (At the time Bernharc! was giving
a lecture at the university.)
When WorIc! War II starter! in 1939, Haurwitz, who still
hell! a German passport, was cIassifiec! as an "enemy alien"
en c! hac! to report to the Royal Canaclian Mounter! Police
once a month. But after a brief backgrounc! check, that
requirement was liftecI. Being an enemy alien, however, clic!
not interfere with his having access to the "secret" weather
cocles clevelopec! for use at that time or his being involves!
with coordinating the joint use of these cocles by the me-
teorological services of the Uniter! States en c! Canada.
Despite all of these academic en c! semiaciministrative clu-
ties, he still macle time to work on a number of research
problems, inclucling funciamental studies of the motions of
large-scale atmospheric disturbances. The latter resulted in
three publications during the period 1937-40 that are still
consiclerec! classic in the fielc! of planetary waves in the
atmosphere.
Haurwitz's study of planetary waves stemmed from his
early interest as a graduate student in the theory of solar
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95
inclucec! atmospheric ticles. The original motive for the 1937
paper, "The Oscillations of the Atmosphere," was to fins! an
explanation for resonance of the solar semicliurnal pres-
sure ticle. However, the emphasis on that paper was on the
class of planetary waves whose periods are long comparer!
to a siclereal clay en c! move westwarc! relative to the mean
zonal flow in which they are embeciclecI. It was in that paper
that Haurwitz derived the speed of low-frequency nondi-
vergent planetary waves on a spherical earth that are typi-
cal of large-scare meteorological systems. An analogous re-
sult was clerivec! by Rossby en c! collaborators in 1939 for the
speec! of long waves in micIlatitucles baser! on the assump-
tions that the air motion was horizontal en c! nondivergent
on a plane earth with no lateral shear in the basic westerly
current. Only the latituclinal variation of the Coriolis pa-
rameter was consiclerecI, en c! the wave motion was assumer!
to be purely zonal. These waves are known as Rossby waves.
In the two papers Haurwitz published in 1940, "The Mo-
tion of Atmospheric Disturbances" en c! "The Motion of At-
mospheric Disturbances on a Spherical Earth," he extenclec!
the work of Rossby et al. en c! also reclerivec! the formal
results of the paper he publisher! in 1937 to show direct
application of the results to the observer! "centers of ac-
tion" of the northern hemisphere mean circulation system.
Haurwitz moclifiec! Rossby's assumptions to inclucle the
mericlional extent of the wave, the effects of friction en c! of
baroclinic forcing as, for instance, with zonal flow across a
north-south coastline. His results indicated that the impor-
tance of the latitucle variation of the Coriolis force (,8 ef-
fect) on the wave speec! clecreasec! as the lateral extent of
the disturbance became smaller. He also fount! that, when
the effect of friction is applier! to the perturbec! flow, the
amplitude of the disturbance decreases exponentially with
time.
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In aciclition, he shower! that the effect of imposing a Ton-
gituclinally fixer! external force on the flow pattern, such as
a lancI-ocean interface, generates stationary waves of ap-
proximately the same wavelength as the free oscillation of
the system. This latter result was subsequently shown in the
literature to apply as well to imposer! fixer! external forcing
on planetary waves associates! with north-south orographic
surface features. The treatment of these horizontal plan-
etary waves on a rotating spherical earth as clevelopec! in
the two papers by Haurwitz in 1940 has given rise to the
identification of this general class of waves as Rossby-Haurwitz
waves, en c! they are so referrer! to in the literature.
In 1940 Sverre Pettersson, then chair of the Department
of Meteorology at MIT, visitec! the Meteorological Service
in Canada. He hac! known Haurwitz from the time when
they were both in Norway. He invites! Haurwitz to come
back to the department at MIT, en c! in July 1941 Bernharc!
returnee! to Cambridge, this time as associate professor of
meteorology. At the same time, Bernhard received an ap-
pointment as Abbott Lawrence Rotch Research Fellow at
Harvard's Blue Hill Observatory.
When Haurwitz arriver! at MIT in micI-194l, the clepart-
ment was already involved in the Army Air Corps/Navy ad-
vanced training program in meteorology. (MIT was then
one of five universities participating in the national pro-
gram that eventually trainee! over 10,000 weather officers.)
While at MIT, Bernhard's principal academic responsibili-
ties were to teach a course on dynamic meteorology and a
course clearing with the physical principles of climate. The
latter course lee! to the publication of a textbook, Ctimatol-
ogy, coauthored! with his colleague James Austin.
At the time of his return to Cambridge, the Uniter! States
was not yet at war and Bernhard's official immigration sta-
tus was as a "neutral alien." However, when the United States
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103
During that time, he hac! the chance to revisit Gottingen
en c! meet with two of Bartels's students, Manfrec! Siebert
en c! Walter Kertz, who were then working on the problem
of direct thermal input as an alternative to resonance theory
for the main forcing of the semicliurnal atmospheric ticial
oscillation.
MIGRATION TO THE WEST
Bernharc! hac! his first onsite experiences with the Rocky
Mountain region in 1954 when he began his summer visits
to the western states. He spent part of that summer at the
Sacramento Peak Observatory (Sac Peak) at Sun Spot, New
Mexico, at the invitation of Jack Evans, then director of the
observatory. There he interactec! with solar physicists who
were involves! in, among other things, studies of the effect
of solar disturbances on radio propagation in the upper
atmosphere. Discussions with colleagues at Sac Peak brought
to mine! his earlier attempts at fincling a possible physical
mechanism for solar influences on atmospheric variability.
The graclual shift of his summer workplace locale from WHOI
on the east coast to Sac Peak in New Mexico en c! later to
the High Altitucle Observatory (MAO) in Bouicler, Colo-
raclo, represented! a transition towarc! increaser! research
application to problems of upper-atmosphere dynamics.
When Walter Orr Roberts, knowing of Bernharcl's desire
to spenc! some time away from New York, asker! him to
participate in the HAO summer program clearing with so-
lar-terrestrial relations, Bernharc! agrees! en c! consequently
spent the summers of 1957 and 1958 as a visiting research
associate with the High Altitucle Observatory. In 1959 he
accepted Walt's offer of a joint, full-time appointment as
professor of geophysics at the University of Coloraclo en c!
research associate at HAO.
The attractions in Bouicler, both intellectual en c! envi
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ronmental, were many. Bernharc! was able to work in more
relaxer! surroundings than before, especially with a mini-
mum of administrative responsibilities. After 1959, when he
became a permanent resident in Bouicler, he wouic! go to
the mountains almost every weekenc! hiking cluring sum-
mer en c! fall en c! ski touring or snowshoeing cluring the
winter and spring. Frequently he would go hiking with his
son when Frank visitor! BouIcler cluring the summer or with
local or visiting colleagues. One of those colleagues was
Sydney Chapman, who was a member of the research staff
of HAO en c! with whom Bernharc! maintainer! a close asso-
ciation. They had strong overlapping scientific interests and
a sharer! appreciation of Bouicler because of, among other
things, its proximity to the many nearby mountain trails.
One of Bernharcl's hiking companions was Marion WoocI,
a scientist working at the National Bureau of Stanciarcis in
BouIcler en c! a native of Coloraclo who sharer! his apprecia-
tion of the mountains en c! associates! outdoor activities.
Bernharc! en c! Marion were marries! in January 1961 en c!
were together until his cleath twenty-five years later.
Bernharc! en c! Marion went to Europe cluring the sum-
mer of 1961 for an extended visit to Switzerland, Austria,
en c! Germany. This was their first trip abroac! together, en c!
it represented a somewhat clelayoc! honeymoon. They par-
ticipatec! in scientific symposia in Arosa en c! Vienna en c!
went to Munich for three months at the invitation of Fritz
Moller, who was then professor of meteorology at the Me-
teorological Institute in Munich. Bernhard held a professo-
rial chair at the university for the summer en c! gave a course
on atmospheric dynamics. During his stay in Munich, he
worked principally on a representation of the global distri-
bution of the ciaily variations of surface temperature through
the use of Legendre functions. Some of the results of that
stucly were user! in his later discussion of the possible ther
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mat excitation of the observer! cliurnal surface pressure os-
cilIation.
After five years at the University of Coloraclo, Haurwitz
cleciclec! in 1964 to move to a full-time position at N CAR as
a senior scientist with the Advance c! Stucly Program, which
he clirectec! for a three-year perioc! (1967-69~. He contin-
ucc! his appointment at N CAR until his retirement in 1976,
when he became a senior research associate. In 1964 he
also starter! his affiliation with the Geophysical Institute of
the University of Alaska, first as a research associate en c!
then as a visiting professor. He en c! Marion went to Fairbanks
for three months in what was to become an almost annual
visit until the winter of 1985.
Soon after he arriver! at the Geophysical Institute in
Fairbanks, Bernharc! hac! the opportunity to continue to
work on a problem that hac! intrigues! him since his visit
with Car! Stormer in OsIo some thirty-five years before.
Stormer hac! been an early en c! cliligent observer of noctilu-
cent cloucis (NLC) . In ~ 930 Haurwitz was involves! in a
theoretical analysis of the dynamics of billow cloucis in the
lower troposphere, en c! Stormer thought that he, Haurwitz,
might fins! applications of the theory to the observer! wave-
forms in noctilucent cloucis. In 1961 Bernharc! publisher! a
paper that attempted to draw an analogy between billow
cloucis that form at an interface between two layers in the
troposphere en c! billow cloucis observer! at the top of the
mesosphere. As a result of preliminary analysis, however,
he concluclec! that "it appears likely that the billow cloucis
observer! in noctilucent cloucis are manifestations of inter-
nal waves" rather than wincishear.
At the Geophysical Institute, Bernharc! met Benson Fogle,
who was then a graduate student working with Sydney
Chapman. Fogle hac! been collecting ciata on NLC observa-
tions macle in polar regions, en c! in 1966 they wrote a re
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B I O G RA P H I C A L
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view paper describing what was then known of the observer!
characteristics of these cloucis. Then in 1969, after Fogle
joiner! NCAR, they publisher! a theoretical analysis of the
origin of the wave forms of noctiTucent cloucis. Observa-
tions indicated that the clouds generally took on two differ-
ent forms: high-frequency, short-wavelength billow cloucis
en c! Tower-frequency, Tonger-wavelength bancis. They pro-
posec! that the shorter lifetimes for billow cloucis were prob-
ably clue to viscous clamping, which is more effective for
shorter than longer wavelengths. On the basis of their analysis
they concluclec! that the win c! shear in the layer of the NLC
bancis was certainly smaller than that requires! if these bancis
appearec! as an interface wave near the mesopause, en c!
they suggestec! that both bancis en c! billow cloucis are causer!
by internal gravity waves. Bernharc! became convincer! that
the problem of the origin en c! energy source, particularly
for the high-frequency component of the NLC, conic! not
be clefinitively resolver! without a carefully clesignec! obser-
vational program to measure NLC heights. wavelengths. en c!
amplitucles of the different waveforms.
O O
During this time, Bernharc! continues! with his studies of
atmospheric ticles. It hac! Tong been known that the solar
atmospheric surface pressure title is thermally rather than
gravitationally produced. However, the observed amplitude
of the cliurnal title is smaller than that of the semicliurnal
tide, which is apparently inconsistent with the relative am-
plitucles of the cliurnal en c! semicliurnal temperature oscil-
lations. In a paper publisher! in 1965 Bernharc! pointer! out
that "one of the main problems of atmospheric ticial theory
is to explain the small size of So (p0) as compared to S2(pO)."
It was by then generally agrees! that resonance conic! not be
the major cause for the large amplifications of S2(pO). Reso-
nance theory, normally acceptec! up to ten years earlier to
explain the dominance of S2(po), required that the atmo
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107
sphere have a free perioc! very close to twelve hours. This
wouIc! call for an upper-stratospheric temperature of about
350 K, 75 K higher than observed. By the early 1960s, how-
ever, it hac! been shown by Siebert, Butler, Small, en c! oth-
ers, that direct heating by absorption of solar racliation by
water vapor en c! ozone in the troposphere en c! stratosphere
conic! largely account for the observer! amplitucle of S2(pO).
In the 1965 paper Haurwitz presented for the first time a
spherical harmonic analysis of the worIc~wicle geographic
distribution of So (po), similar to that done earlier for S2(pO),
to document the observer! relative amplitucles of the two
principal components of the surface pressure solar title en c!
to explain the apparent suppression of S~(pO). He shower!
that the main part of SO (pO) was a westwarcI-traveling wave
with an equatorial amplitucle of~O.6 mb, one-half that of
S2(po). Also, the average amplitucle of the cliurnal oscilla-
tion clecreasec! strongly with latitucle, en c! the cliurnal wave,
unlike the semicliurnal wave, was strongly moclifiec! by prop-
erties of the Tower boundary such as orography en c! the
distribution of lane! en c! water surfaces. Bernhard, however,
erroneously attributer! the excitation of SO (pO) to the ciaily
surface temperature oscillation, So (To). At the time of the
analysis, he clic! not realize that the representation of SO (pO)
by Hough functions shouIc! contain negative equivalent
depths, as later pointer! out by Richarc! Lincizen en c! oth-
ers. The excitation of such Hough mocles wouIc! result from
absorption of solar racliation principally from water vapor
and ozone in the Tower and upper stratosphere, respec-
tively. For a number of reasons, the propagation of this
energy from the source regions to the surface is not very
effective, thus producing a diminished SO (pO).
In his last major study of atmospheric ticles (completec!
in 1973), Bernhard, together with Ann Cowley, presented
an analysis of the quasi-global distribution and seasonal varia
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08
B I O G RA P H I C A L
EMOIRS
lion of the cliurnal en c! semicliurnal pressure oscillations.
Again, they performec! spherical harmonic analyses of the
station ciata, en c! the wave characteristics were expressed by
associates! Legencire functions en c! Hough functions. They
extenclec! their earlier studies to higher-orcler wave num-
bers en c! confirmed! that the dominant component of the
cliurnal wave was zonal wave number ~ en c! that for the
semicliurnal wave was zonal wave number 2. The more com
plete study again shower! that at the equator the ratio of
the relative amplitucles of So (p0) to S2(pO) was approximately
I:2. S2(pO) was fount! to be much more regular than Situps),
a result that is consistent with the nature of the forcing of
the two waves. The results of this study are cites! in the
literature as one of the stanciarc! references on atmospheric
ticles.
While at N CAR, Bernharc! wouic! frequently give courses
at Coloraclo State University en c! in 1973 he en c! Marion
mover! to Fort Collins. For the next three years he cliviclec!
his time among CSU, NCAR, en c! the Geophysical Institute
at Fairbanks. In 1976 he resigner! his formal N CAR posi-
tion but kept his ties to NCAR as a senior research associ-
ate.
Bernharc! was electec! to the National Academy of Sci-
ences in 1960, en c! in 1964 he was electec! to the Deutsche
Akaciamie cler Naturforscher Leopoiclina (the German AcacI-
emy of Sciences, founclec! in 1562~. He was awarclec! the
Order of Merit First Class by the Fecleral Republic of Ger-
many in 1976 for his efforts in helping German meteorolo-
gists return to the mainstream of the international scien-
tific community in the years following WorIc! War II. Bernharc!
received the prestigious Car! Gustaf-Rossby Award for Ex-
traorclinary Scientific Achievement from the American Me-
teorological Society in 1962, en c! in 1972 he receiver! the
Bowie Mecial of the American Geophysical Union.
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B E R N H A R D H A U RW I T Z
109
In December 1985 while he was in Fairbanks, Bernharc!
clevelopec! a chest infection that was cliagnosec! as pneumo-
nia, en c! he returnee! with Marion to Fort Collins. He was
hospitaTizec! in January, en c! on February 27, 1986, he cliec!
of renal failure.
Bernharc! represented a prime example of a person who
successfully combiner! superior teaching with excellence in
research by removing the unnatural barrier that often sepa-
rates the two. He was unpretentious, en c! although he clic!
not suffer fools, his interchanges with students en c! col-
leagues were never market! with derogation. It is clear that
he left a strong imprint on his colleagues ant! students
through his writings en c! lectures. Both were outstanding
examples of ticliness en c! clarity with a stucliec! avoidance of
jargon, particularly when dealing with complex and diffi-
cult subjects.
IN PREPARING THIS MEMOIR, considerable use was made of the material
contained in a series of papers, "Meteorology in the 20th Century-
A Participant's View," by Bernhard Haurwitz, published in 1985 in
the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (vol. 66, pp. 281-91,
424-31, 498-504, 628-33), and Conversations with Bernhard Haurwitz,
by George W. Platzman (NCAR/TN-257, 1985~. I am indebted to
George Platzman for many discussions about Bernhard and for his
comments on an early draft of this memoir.
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0
B I O G RA P H I C A L
S E L E C T E D
EMOIRS
B I B L I O G RAP H Y
A full bibliography is contained in Conversations with Bernhard Haurwitz,
by George W. Platzman, NCAR/TN-257, June 1985, National Cen-
ter for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.
1927
Bezichungen zwischen Luftdruck- und Temperaturanderungen. Ein
Beitrag zur Frage des Sitzes dur Luftdruckschwankungen. (Doctor's
thesis. ~ Veroeff Geophys. Inst. Univ. Leitzig 3 :266-335.
1930
Zur Berechnung von oscillatorischen Luft- und Wasserstromungen.
Gerlands Beitr. Geophys. 27:26-35.
1931
Zur Theorie der Wellenbewegungen in Luft und Wasser.
(Habilitationsschrift.) Veroeff Geophys. Inst. Univ. Leitzig5~1~.
..
Uber die Wellenlange von Luftwogen. Gerlands Beitr. Geophys. 34:213
32.
1932
..
Uber die Wellenlange von Luftwogen (2. Mitteilung). Gerlands Beitr.
Geophys. 37: 16-24.
1935
On the change of the wind with elevation under the influence of
viscosity in curved air currents. Gerlands Beitr. Geophys. 45:243-67.
The height of tropical cyclones and of the "eye" of the storm. Mon.
Weather. Rev. 63:45-49.
1937
The Physical State of the Upper Atmosphere. Toronto: Royal Astronomi-
cal Society of Canada.
The oscillations of the atmosphere. Gerlands Beitr. Geophys. 51:195-
233.
1940
The motion of atmospheric disturbances. 7. Marine Res. 3:35-50.
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B E R N H A R D H A U RW I T Z
111
The motion of atmospheric disturbances on a spherical earth. 7.
Marine Res. 3:254-67.
1941
Dynamic Meteorology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
1944
With T. M. Austin. Climatology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
1947
Internal waves in the atmosphere and convection patterns. Ann.
N.Y. A cad. Sci. 48:727-48.
1948
Solar activity, the ozone layer, and the lower atmosphere. In Centen-
nial Symposia, Harvard Observatory Monograph, vol.7, pp. 353-69.
1951
The motion of binary tropical cyclones. Arch. Meteorol. Geophys. Bioklimatol.
A4:73-86.
1952
With R. A. Craig. Atmospheric Flow Patterns and Their Representa-
tion by Spherical-Surface Harmonics. Geophysics Research Pa-
per, No. 14.
1956
The geographical distribution of the solar semidiurnal pressure os-
cillation. Meteorology Paper 2, No. 5.
1959
With H. Stommel and W. H. Munk. On the thermal unrest in the
ocean. In The Atmosphere and the Sea in Motion, Rossby Memorial
Volume, ed. B. Bolin, pp. 74-94. New York: Rockefeller Institute
Press.
1961
Wave formations in noctilucent clouds. Planet. Space Sci. 5:92-98.
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112
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Frictional effects and the meridional circulation in the mesosphere.
J. Geophys. Res. 66:2381-91.
1964
Tidal Phenomena in the Upper Atmosphere. Technical Note No.
58. Geneva: World Meteorological Organization.
1965
The diurnal surface-pressure oscillation. Arch. Meteorol. Geophys.
Bioklimatol. A14:361-79.
1969
With B. Fogle. Wave forms in noctilucent clouds. Deep-Sea Res. 16
(Suppl.) :85-95.
With A. D. Cowley. The lunar barometric tide, its global distribu-
tion and annual variation. Pure Appl. Geophys. 77: 122-50.
1973
With A. D. Cowley. The diurnal and semidiurnal barometric oscilla-
tions, global distribution and annual variation. Pure Appl. Geophys.
102:193-222.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
dynamic meteorology
