The life and science of Alfred H. Woodcock

Author:

Blanchard, Duncan C.

Title:

The life and science of Alfred H. Woodcock

Periodical:

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Year:

1984

Volume:

65

Pages:

457-463

Subject:

Woodcock, Alfred H.

Summary:

This document tells of the chain of events that lead Alfred H. Woodcock to life as a sailor/scientist, the lessons that he learned from nature -- whether airborne, water borne, or ashore, and oceanographic science. Through studying birds and the activity of the seagull, he learned about the organized circulations in the air. By studying the Portuguese Man-of-War, (a jellyfish of the genus Physalia), he learned about the organized circulation of the surface of the ocean water. Mention is also made of how Woodcock assisted with a project that plagued the Navy sonars during the war years, the work that he did on a smoke screen project that would conceal the Navy ships and landing craft from enemy operations. Mention is also made of the work that he did with regard to salt-particles and the formation of raindrops, that eventually inspired the first large-scale "Project Shower" that was an international attack on the physics and chemistry of warm rain that took place in Hilo, Hawaii in 1954, and study that he did with regard to the orographic rain produced on the windward slopes of Mauna Kea.

Label:

Geology

URL:

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/1520-0477%281984%29065%3C0457%3ATLASOA%3E2.0.CO%3B2

Date:

May 1984

Collection:

Periodicals