Jacob Bjerknes

Jacob Aall Bonnevie Bjerknes ( born November 2, 1897 in Stockholm, † July 7, 1975 in Los Angeles ) was a Norwegian- American meteorologist. His father was Vilhelm Bjerknes, his maternal grandfather was Jacob Aall Bonnevie.

Bjerknes was a member of a guided group of meteorologists from his father, who described the development, intensification and ultimate decay of weather fronts ( abrupt boundaries between different air masses ). This concept has become known as the Norwegian cyclone model (see also the polar front theory). He described El Niño and the Southern Oscillation, a complex circulation system of coupled atmosphere and ocean in the Pacific. He realized that El Niño and the Southern Oscillation related phenomena were.

Bjerknes was one of the meteorologists who supported the expedition of Roald Amundsen when he performed the first crossing of the Arctic in the airship Norge in 1926. He was a member of the famous mountains School of Meteorology.