Jerome Namias

Jerome Namias ( born March 19, 1910 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, † February 10, 1997 ) was an American meteorologist who examined more closely, inter alia El Niño.

Life

Namias grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts, on. He studied at the University of Michigan and joined in 1936 as a research assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) a. In the 1930s he studied the phenomenon of the Dust Bowl. In 1941 he obtained a Master degree at the Institute of Aerospace.

From 1941 to 1971 he was Director of the Department for long-term forecasts of the National Weather Service of the United States. In the 40s he developed the 5 -day forecast further, in the 60 -month and seasonal forecasts. He was also responsible for the weather forecast of the Allies in North Africa during World War II.

Namias helped with the system of aviation weather forecast to develop and examined the interaction between the oceans and atmosphere. He was also involved in the study of El Niño in the Pacific, and its importance for the global climate.

In 1971 he joined the Scripps Institution and a established the first experimental climate study center. His prediction warm weather during the Arab oil embargo in 1973 proved to be very valuable.

Namias earned various awards, inclusion in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He won the Gold Medal of the Department of Commerce for distinguished achievement. In his lifetime, he published more than 200 papers and worked until 1989 in meteorology. In 1997, he died of pneumonia.