The ENIAC Computations of 1950—Gateway to Numerical Weather Prediction

Platzman, George W.

doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1979)060<0302:tecotn>2.0.co;2

Cited by 82 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…George Platzman, Charney said "I think we were all rather surprised that the predictions were as good as they were" (Platzman 1990). Reviewing Charney's influence on meteorology some years later, Norman Phillips wrote that the success of the ENIAC integrations was so clear that "the idea of numerical prediction began to be accepted immediately by the meteorological community" (Phillips 1990).…”

Section: Into Operations In An Interview Withmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, few if any people anticipated the enormous practical value of this simple model and the leading role it was to play in operational prediction for many years to come (Platzman 1979).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was arranged through the offices of Francis Reichelderfer, Chief of the Weather Bureau. The story of the mission to Aberdeen was recounted by George Platzman (1979) arrived in Aberdeen, Maryland, to play their roles in a remarkable exploit." The five players were Jule Charney, Ragnar Fjortoft, John Freeman, George Platzman, and Joseph Smagorinsky.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The ENIAC Forecasts: A Re-creation

Lynch¹

2008

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The numerical forecasts made in 1950 using the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) paved the way for the remarkable advances that have been made over the past half-century in weather prediction and climate modeling. We review the circumstances in which the forecasts were made, the nature of the ENIAC machine, and the roles of the people involved. The basis for the forecasts was the barotropic vorticity equation, and the initial data were prepared manually from standard weather charts. Now that the NCEP-NCAR reanalysis extends back to 1948, the initial height fields for the forecasts are readily available in digital form. We describe the reconstruction of the forecasts using reanalyzed data. Were the ENIAC forecasts any good? To date, no objective verification of the four integrations has been available. A comparison of the original and reconstructed forecasts shows them to be in good agreement. Quantitative verification of the forecasts yields surprising results. On the basis of root-mean-square errors, persistence beats the forecast in three of the four cases. The mean error, or bias, is smaller for persistence in all four cases. However, when SI scores are compared, all four forecasts show skill and three are substantially better than persistence. A small modification of the prediction equation, in which the streamfunction replaces the geopotential height as the prognostic variable, can be implemented without any computational penalty. The modified equation yields slightly improved forecasts in all four cases.

show abstract

Section: Into Operations In An Interview Withmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The ENIAC Forecasts: A Re-creation

Lynch¹

2008

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Einen alternativen Weg wählte der britische Mathematiker und Physiker Lewis Fry Richardson, der mit seiner Arbeit die konzeptionellen und mathematischen Grundlagen der später entwickelten Wetter-und Klimasimulation schuf (Richardson 1965(Richardson [1922, Lynch 2006 (Platzman 1979: 311, Nebeker 1995: 144f., Arakawa 2000.…”

Section: Von Der Klimatologie Zur Klimaforschungunclassified

Klimakonstruktionen

Heymann

2009

N.T.M.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Klimakonstruktionen Von der klassischen Klimatologie zur KlimaforschungMatthias Heymann Constructing Climate. From Classical Climatology to Modern Climate Research Both climate researchers and historians of climate science have conceived climate as a stable and well defined category. This article argues that such a conception is flawed. In the course of the 19th and 20th century the very concept of climate changed considerably. Scientists came up with different definitions and concepts of climate, which implied different understandings, interests, and research approaches. Understanding climate shifted from a timeless, spatial concept at the end of the 19th century to a spaceless, temporal concept at the end of the 20th. Climatologists in the 19th and early 20th centuries considered climate as a set of atmospheric characteristics associated with specific places or regions. In this context, while the weather was subject to change, climate remained largely stable. Of particular interest was the impact of climate on human beings and the environment. In modern climate research at the close of the 20th century, the concept of climate lost its temporal stability. Instead, climate change has become a core feature of the understanding of climate and a focus of research interests. Climate has also lost its immediate association with specific geographical places and become global. The inte rest is now focused on the impact of human beings on climate. The paper attempts to investigate these conceptual shifts and their origins and impacts in order to provide a more comprehensive perspective on the history of climate research.

show abstract

“…With Charney s help, Smagorinsky had ventured into the precipitation prediction problem, and he had given conscientious thought to the inadequacy of the upper-air observation network, a concern for shortrange prediction but a monumental obstacle standing in the path of progress in general circulation modeling (Platzman 1987). This issue would continue to occupy Smagorinsky's time, especially from the early 1960s through the late 1970s when the Global Weather Experiment would occupy center stage (Smagorinsky 1978;Smagorinsky and Phillips 1978).…”

Section: Smagorinsky's Vision For the Gcrsmentioning

confidence: 99%