155
this material to extrapolate and correlate data about winds and marine currents. In
so doing, he began his successful career as an oceanographer and meteorologist.
Even though contemporary American meteorological literature rejected Maury’s
theoretical approach to meteorology, our studies of his specific knowledge in the
atmospheric sciences suggest that he should be counted among the most influential
pioneers in the field of dynamic meteorology and its applications to weather
forecasting.
He carefully studied the many thousands of logbooks received at the Naval
Observatory, where all the weather phenomena observed onboard each ship, along
its route, had been systematically annotated, and arrived at some fundamental
advances, proposing:
– the first rigorous meteorological characterization of the prevailing pattern of constant wind known as “trade winds”, the starting point for all other atmospheric
motions;
– the recognition and identification of the main periodic winds or “monsoons”;
– the definition of the basic characters of the mid-latitude atmospheric circulation.
Maury observed the wide seasonal oscillation in latitude of the northeastern trade
winds and ascertained that the southeast trade winds blow stronger than the northeast ones, so that, in their latitudinal shift toward the Northern Hemisphere, they
cross the equator and change direction, thus turning into southwest monsoons.
Maury proposed the term “deflected trade winds” for them. Within the tropical convective circulation, he identified the intertropical convergence zone, associated with
a band of heavy precipitation, and two calm belts near the tropics, respectively, connected to high pressure bands: the “nodes” of the general atmospheric circulation.
He also studied the circulation pattern at mid-latitudes, concluding that it is characterized by prevailing western winds that originate from the same tropical anticyclonic bands from which trade winds blow. Maury also recognized the key role that
latent heat plays in the thermodynamic processes of the atmosphere.
He correlated winds and other weather phenomena with ocean currents in his
fundamental works Explanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind
and Current Charts (1858–1859) and The Physical Geography of the Sea, and Its
Meteorology, which boasted 15 editions after it was first published in 1855. This
book helped the American meteorologist William Ferrel (1817–1891) to develop his
mathematical theory of general atmospheric circulation and contributed to the analytical description of the curvature of the air currents around high and low pressure
centers, postulating the existence of an apparent force which, arising from the
earth’s rotation, produces a deflecting effect on the motion itself, to the right in the
Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern one (Ferrel 1860).
Commodore Maury also promoted the first International Maritime Conference,
held in Brussels in 1853, a meeting where ten governments were represented and
where he gave a decisive impetus to the development of international cooperation in
meteorology, starting from observations and measurements carried out at sea, thus
laying the foundations of the International Meteorological Organization (IMO) that
will come into being at the 1879 Rome International Meteorological Congress.
9 Angelo Secchi and Meteorology in Italy
this material to extrapolate and correlate data about winds and marine currents. In
so doing, he began his successful career as an oceanographer and meteorologist.
Even though contemporary American meteorological literature rejected Maury’s
theoretical approach to meteorology, our studies of his specific knowledge in the
atmospheric sciences suggest that he should be counted among the most influential
pioneers in the field of dynamic meteorology and its applications to weather
forecasting.
He carefully studied the many thousands of logbooks received at the Naval
Observatory, where all the weather phenomena observed onboard each ship, along
its route, had been systematically annotated, and arrived at some fundamental
advances, proposing:
– the first rigorous meteorological characterization of the prevailing pattern of constant wind known as “trade winds”, the starting point for all other atmospheric
motions;
– the recognition and identification of the main periodic winds or “monsoons”;
– the definition of the basic characters of the mid-latitude atmospheric circulation.
Maury observed the wide seasonal oscillation in latitude of the northeastern trade
winds and ascertained that the southeast trade winds blow stronger than the northeast ones, so that, in their latitudinal shift toward the Northern Hemisphere, they
cross the equator and change direction, thus turning into southwest monsoons.
Maury proposed the term “deflected trade winds” for them. Within the tropical convective circulation, he identified the intertropical convergence zone, associated with
a band of heavy precipitation, and two calm belts near the tropics, respectively, connected to high pressure bands: the “nodes” of the general atmospheric circulation.
He also studied the circulation pattern at mid-latitudes, concluding that it is characterized by prevailing western winds that originate from the same tropical anticyclonic bands from which trade winds blow. Maury also recognized the key role that
latent heat plays in the thermodynamic processes of the atmosphere.
He correlated winds and other weather phenomena with ocean currents in his
fundamental works Explanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind
and Current Charts (1858–1859) and The Physical Geography of the Sea, and Its
Meteorology, which boasted 15 editions after it was first published in 1855. This
book helped the American meteorologist William Ferrel (1817–1891) to develop his
mathematical theory of general atmospheric circulation and contributed to the analytical description of the curvature of the air currents around high and low pressure
centers, postulating the existence of an apparent force which, arising from the
earth’s rotation, produces a deflecting effect on the motion itself, to the right in the
Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern one (Ferrel 1860).
Commodore Maury also promoted the first International Maritime Conference,
held in Brussels in 1853, a meeting where ten governments were represented and
where he gave a decisive impetus to the development of international cooperation in
meteorology, starting from observations and measurements carried out at sea, thus
laying the foundations of the International Meteorological Organization (IMO) that
will come into being at the 1879 Rome International Meteorological Congress.
9 Angelo Secchi and Meteorology in Italy