Harald Ulrik Sverdrup

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Harald Sverdrup

Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (born November 15, 1888 in Sogndal , Norway , † August 21, 1957 ) was a Norwegian oceanographer .

Life

After studying in Oslo with the candidate degree in 1914, he continued his studies in Leipzig and received his doctorate there in 1917 under Vilhelm Bjerknes at the Geophysical Institute. From 1918 to 1925, under Roald Amundsen on the Maud expedition, he led the scientific work on exploring the Northeast Passage in the footsteps of the Fram . Among other things, he examined the tides in the Arctic. After this research trip, he was appointed professor at the Institute for Geophysics in Bergen in 1926 , today part of the University of Bergen . (The university was not founded until 1946.) In 1931 Sverdrup took part as a senior scientist in Hubert Wilkins ' unsuccessful North Pole voyage with the submarine Nautilus , with Bernhard Villinger on board . In 1936 he was named director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography , which he headed until 1948. Originally he only wanted to stay three years, which was extended by the outbreak of World War II.

On a total of 33 expeditions with the research vessel EW Scripps between 1938 and 1941, he created a detailed oceanographic data set off the coast of California. During the Second World War he took part in securing maritime combat operations by the Allies through his oceanographic work. In 1948 he was appointed head of the new Norsk Polar Institute in Oslo and in 1949 took over the patronage of the Norwegian- Swedish - British Antarctic expedition. In 1951 he himself traveled to Antarctica with the research vessel Norsel .

In 1942 he published his textbook The Oceans , which was a standard work for a long time.

In 1953 he introduced the concept of critical depth to explain the algal bloom in the sea in spring. It is the depth at which the algae population just sustains itself through photosynthesis (no growth). If the mixing depth in the ocean is greater than the critical depth, the algae population falls (since parts of the algae population are transported to depths below the critical depth), it rises above it.

The unit Sverdrup (Sv) as well as the Sverdrupfjella in the Queen Maud Land ( Antarctica ) and the Sverdrup Nunatakker on the southeast coast of Palmerland were named after him.

The American Meteorological Society awards him the Sverdrup Gold Medal in his honor . In 1951 he received the William Bowie Medal , 1930 the Vega Medal and in 1938 the Alexander Agassiz Medal and the Swedish North Star Order . He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1952), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1944) and the Norwegian Academy of Sciences .

See also

Fonts

  • with Martin W. Johnson, Richard H. Fleming: The Oceans: Their Physics, Chemistry and General Biology, Prentice-Hall 1942, reprint 1970, online

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sverdrup, On Conditions for the Vernal Blooming of Phytoplankton, Journal du Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, Volume 18, 1953, pp. 287-295
  2. ^ Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1900-1949 ( PDF ). Retrieved October 8, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Sverdrup, Harald Ulrik
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian oceanographer
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Sogndal , Norway
DATE OF DEATH August 21, 1957