A brief history of nautical meteorology

The development of navigation is closely related to the development and application of meteorology. As early as in the canoe sailing era, human beings paid attention to choosing sailing time and sea area according to meteorological conditions. In the era of navigation, people have been able to use the wind at sea as the driving force for navigation. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, China's wind-driven ships frequently traveled between China and Persia (now Iran).

/kloc-at the end of 0/5, navigators began to master the knowledge of the northeast trade wind, which is also called the trade wind because it is conducive to the navigation of commercial trade fleets. In the17th century, the rain gauge, which is mainly used to measure the change of air pressure, has been used in navigation to predict the arrival of storms. With the appearance and development of steam ships, navigators constantly summarize various environmental data during their voyage. By 1805, beaufort, an Englishman, drew up a scale of wind and sea conditions, called "beaufort scale", according to the influence of wind on objects on the ground and at sea.

From 19, people mainly rely on the data accumulated in navigation practice, and began to compile various nautical climate maps for ocean navigation and local sea areas. During this period, the appearance of sea breeze and current map helps navigators to design seasonal routes suitable for different seasons. From 65438 to 0938, the US Meteorological Administration published a global atlas of marine climate. But it was not until 1950s that this marine climate map became more systematic and perfect, and became the main basis for navigation and route design. Since then, marine meteorological observation, meteorological information transmission, marine weather forecast, etc. Great progress has also been made, and marine weather analysis charts and forecast products have begun to be reported to the sea, making them widely used in navigation.

Since 1950s, the technology of ship optimal route selection, which has developed vigorously, is an important application of combining meteorology and oceanography in navigation and an important development of nautical meteorology. The research topic of modern marine meteorology is to apply the achievements of meteorology, especially marine meteorological information and forecasting services, to ensure the safe and economic navigation of ships and avoid and reduce the adverse effects and losses caused by marine environmental conditions. These studies have also enriched the research content of meteorology and promoted its development.

Sailing predecessors attached great importance to collecting marine meteorological and hydrological data and summarizing the changing laws of weather and sea conditions on the ocean. China's book Waterway Classic written by Zhang in Ming Dynasty is a guide to the maritime routes along the coast of China, and its album contains maritime meteorological songs. The content is divided into nine categories: sky, cloud, wind, sun, rainbow, fog, electricity, tide and sea. It is still meaningful to predict the weather evolution according to the symptoms and clarify the characteristics and laws of climate. 1805, the British F. Beaufort drew up the wind scale according to the sea signs. From 0 to 12 * *, it was divided into 13, which was called "Beaufort wind scale". From 1847 to 1852, American M. Molly drew the North Atlantic wind and current chart according to the data recorded by ocean-going ships, which greatly shortened the time for ships to cross the North Atlantic and created a precedent for modern route charts. 1857, C. H. D. Buys Ballot discovered the law of judging the orientation of high and low pressure centers according to the wind direction, which is called Baibero's law (also known as wind pressure law): people stand on the leeward side, in the northern hemisphere, the low pressure center is in the left front and the high pressure center is in the right rear; In the southern hemisphere, the center of low pressure is on the right front, and the center of high pressure is on the left rear. With the development of nautical meteorology and hydrology research, various charts have gradually enriched various nautical meteorology and hydrology data. In addition, monographs on the basic principles of modern marine meteorology and hydrology, works on how to use reports, forecasts, warnings, fax nautical weather charts and satellite cloud pictures, and works on some elements of forecasting marine weather and sea conditions related to navigation have also been published in various marine countries. Since the 1960s, marine meteorological and hydrological observation techniques have been continuously improved. The experiment of weather and sea state on high-speed simulation computer, the progress of interpretation and translation of satellite meteorological data, the improvement of weather and sea state forecast, and the establishment of automatic buoys for Atlantic and Pacific environmental data have all effectively promoted the development of marine meteorology and hydrology.