Albert Baumgartner (meteorologist)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Albert Baumgartner (born November 13, 1919 in Feldkirchen near Rott am Inn ; † March 6, 2008 in Grünwald ) was a German meteorologist who worked primarily in the field of forest meteorology and played an important role in the development of bioclimatology . He was the first scientist to take stock of the earth's water balance .

Life

Simon Baumgartner's son studied meteorology in Berlin and Vienna from 1941 to 1943 . Under the special conditions of the war , he was able to obtain the diploma after just six semesters. From 1943 to 1946 he worked for the Reich Weather Service before switching to the German Weather Service .

In Hesse he was involved in setting up climate stations . He was able to attract 3,000 volunteers to help organize the weather observation service. When a drought broke out in Germany in 1947 , he was committed to the establishment of a network for measuring soil moisture , which was still of importance in 2008 for the meteorology of agriculture. He passed his assessor examination in 1948.

A year later, in 1949, he became a member of the Institute for Meteorology at the Bavarian Forest Research Institute in Munich . There he was able to combine the tasks of research with that of forestry practice. In particular, he devoted himself to the questions of plant cultivation, the influences of the climate and the protection of plants from the effects of frost . A formula he developed for predicting gradual warnings of the onset of a forest fire is still in use in 2008.

In 1956 he obtained his doctorate as Dr. rer. nat. at the University of Munich with the subject of studies on the heat and water balance of a young forest as a guest student. This work was translated into five languages ​​and thus received a lot of international attention because he used new experimental methods that had not been practiced until then. He expanded this methodology with his habilitation thesis entitled Energy and Material Balance in Plant Stocks, especially in the Forest in 1965. In this work, he used an energy balance for the first time in research into the environment .

From 1970 on, Baumgartner took over the management of the Institute for Meteorology at the Forest Research Institute in Munich. In 1972 a faculty for forest science was set up at the University of Munich . As part of a reorganization, he took over the chair for bioclimatology and applied meteorology at the new forest science faculty at the University of Munich in 1974 . He carried out this activity until his retirement in 1985.

Act

Albert Baumgartner is also one of the founders of the stations of forest ecology, where he was particularly concerned with the problem of the exchange of carbon dioxide and the associated measurements. His strengths lay precisely in this area, where the climate, meteorology, the associated experimental measurements and the related analyzes formed new aspects of the relationships. He expanded the aspects of meteorology and connected the topic of hydrology first in connection with the cultivation of plants. With his work on the world water balance in 1975 he made a balance of the water balance of the whole world for the first time in research. In 1983 he was able to show a water balance in the Alps . Finally he worked with Hans-Jürgen Liebscher on the textbook of meteorology , which was published in 1990. From 1980 to 1986 the project Stadtklima Bayern was run under his scientific supervision.

With the research work in the Bavarian Forest National Park , he was able to set up a scientifically supported observation area that was internationally regarded as exemplary and also found imitators.

His work on the warming and saturation of the water vapor content of the breath led to new findings on the connection with the seasonal occurrence of poliomyelitis . This work on bioclimatology received high international recognition. This new direction of research in climatology led to young scientists from at least nine countries starting an additional qualification at his chair.

Fonts (selection)

  • Meteorological investigations during frost protection measures in the Grafrath plant garden . Munich 1953.
  • About the differences in the climatic growth conditions of a free and a birch-covered recovery area . Hamburg 1956.
  • with G. Kleinlein and G. Waldmann: Forest-phenological observations and experiments on the Great Falkenstein . Hamburg 1956.
  • Forest meteorology: status and results of forest research 1954–1957 . 1957.
  • Observation values ​​and further studies on the heat and water balance of a young forest . Munich 1957.
  • Climatological delimitation of forest locations in the low mountain range . 1964.
  • Trends in forest meteorology . Parts I and II, Ottawa 1968.
  • with Martin Paesler and Reiner Strauss: temperature measurements in Munich, 1781–1968, monthly mean, extreme values ​​and number of special days . Munich 1972.
  • Forest as an environmental factor in the boundary layer earth and atmosphere . Munich 1973.
  • The World Water Balance: Mean Annual Global, Continental and Maritime Precipitation, Evaporation and Runoff . Munich 1975.
  • with Georg Gietl: Global radiation in Munich 1960–1974 . Munich 1975.
  • with Horst Abel and Wilhelm Donle: Energy and water turnover in breathing . Munich 1977.
  • Forest and water: development and status . Hamburg 1979.
  • with Eberhard Reichel and Gerda Weber: The water balance of the Alps: precipitation, evaporation, runoff and glacier donation in the entire area of ​​the Alps on an annual average for the normal period 1931–1960 . Munich 1983.
  • Estimation of the radiation and thermal micro-environment from meteorological and plant parameters . Munich.
  • with Hans-Jürgen Liebscher and Paul Benecke: General hydrology, quantitative hydrology . Berlin 1996.

Honors

  • 1960: Honorable Member of the Wisconsin Phenological Society
  • 1985: Honorary doctorate from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
  • 1994: Honorary member of the German Society for the Promotion of Medical-Meteorological Research

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Enders, obituary Professor Albert Baumgartner, in: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Meteorologische Gesellschaft, No. 2, 2008, pp. 35–36
  2. ↑ https://www.meteo.physik.uni-muenchen.de/ueber_uns/institutsgeschichte/index.html
  3. ↑ Walter Habel, Who is Who? M Lübeck 2006
personal data
SURNAME Baumgartner, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German meteorologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Feldkirchen near Rott am Inn
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 2008
Place of death Grünwald