Dr Theodore Fujita and His Contribution - Essay Example

Dr. Theodore Fujita and His Contribution Introduction As storms approach the Earth’s atmosphere with devastating predicaments, like the slow change or metamorphosis of the environment surrounding the planet Earth, meteorologists and scientists work with serenity for the comprehension of the nature’s most inevitable yet unpredictable phenomenon. They work relentlessly, maintaining a complete silence to save the civilisation and mankind from the gruesome clutches of these natural devastations and work for the development of human pursuit against these calamities. Such unparallel personality in the field of meteorology is Dr. Theodore Fujita whose immense contribution in the field of meteorology not only developed an insight for the existing phenomena but also opened up new vista in the field of comprehending and developing insight pertaining to meteorology. Thesis Statement The essay tries to explore and appreciate the major achievements of Theodore Fujita in the field of meteorology and his immense and elaborate contribution in understanding and predicting the nature of severe and destructive storms. Brief Biography Tetsuya Theodore Fujita was born on October 23rd of the year 1920. He was very prominent in the field of severe storm research. He conducted most of his poignant research works at the University of Chicago. A significant researcher in the understanding and study of storms like thunderstorms at severe level, tornadoes, hurricanes and typhoons, he propagated some of the revolutionary and significant researches in the field. Born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan, Fujita was educated in Kyushu Institute of Technology and served there as an associate professor till the year 1953. Thereafter, he received the invitation of the University of Chicago where he initiated his career as a professor and gradually gathered interest in the field of research. Contribution of Fujita in the Field of Meteorology During early 1950s Fujita was brought to United States and he was brought by the Horace Byers of the University of Chicago. There he started his research on the course and speed of the severe storm. He excelled in this field to the extent that he became one of the prominent research scholars in the field and key person in the regime of the entire century. He started his work by analyzing single thunderstorm and he conducted his research in the similar fashion for the larger systems that had been comprehended since ages. He was the first scientist to view the thunderstorms as the individual and separate weather system naming them as mesoscale systems. Fujita was the pioneer in introducing the concept of tornado families. He conducted and culminated the concept of tornado families where he saw that each tornado is actually made up of individual tornadoes having unique trajectory and are actually egged by the same thunderstorm. Fujita made an epoch making success in understanding and introducing the thunderstorm architecture and coined a volley of words in the field of meteorology like “wall cloud” and “tail cloud”. He had that foresight to transcend beyond the inhibitions regarding these storms. He achieved this through a closer introspection of the pictures of Fargo, North Dakota storms. In the year 1960, Fujita made a remarkable contention regarding the Palm Sunday outbreak and transformed the entire concept and notion regarding the tornado outbreak and its nature. It was for the first in the history of meteorological study that the mapping of the tornado outbreaks were viewed and studied with context to tornado families. From the numerous aerial photographs, Fujita came to the conclusion that Palm Sunday damage was not the result of any ordinary tornado. But it was that special kind which contains the possibility of having more than one vortex. Multiple vortex tornados are very commonplace concept in the present time. But Fujita was the first one to locate tornado with multiple vortex and determined them on the nature and pattern of their damage. In 1970, Fujita made another revolutionary contention which changed the perspective of the world. This time the catch was the tornado climatology. He introduced a system that could establish a link between the damage and the wind speed. Previous to this invention, all the tornadoes were considered of equal strength. And this way Fujita introduced the word F5. The word that has become a very commonplace idea in the movies of Hollywood now-a-days, but before the invention of the term by Fujita, there existed only guesswork pertaining to the system. The year 1974 can be considered as the historical in the regime of tornado studies and the remarkable in yielding one of the finest experimental inventions by Fujita. A remarkable turn occurred in the field of tornado outbreak and invention. Fujita was able to mark as many as 148 tornadoes. He was successful in mapping the total path of the tornadoes. He measured them and mapped them in Fujita-Scale intensity contours. The damage patters that were confusing further enabled him to identify a new kind of windstorm. Fujita was not only a great research scholar and scientist; but also he was one of the best mentors that University of Chicago had ever received. He trained a group of students who are pioneers today in the various walks of metrological studies. He simplified the idea and concept of the severe storm and this allowed people to enhance general awareness regarding the subject and provided a great aid in the field of analysing and understanding storms and their patterns. After almost two decades of his inventions, still the ideas and the terminology introduced by Fujita rules the field of metrological studies. Fujita’s analysing and comprehending of severe storms does not captivate his career. He gradually turned his focus in the field of aircraft disaster pertaining to weather. With his study of weather-related aircraft disaster and confusing damage pattern in the super outbreak of tornadoes, Fujita discovered another and located two other natural phenomena that were taken for granted since ages. Those two phenomena were downburst and microburst. Before the study of Fujita, meteorologists were confused regarding the awful and surprising selection of gusty winds that were present inside and around thunderstorms. By the end of 1980’s the phenomena pertaining to the downburst and microburst were started being treated and studied as a very special and unique phenomena which are initiated by the alien things like the intrusion of the dry air. And by the end of the decade Fujita was able to educate public and make a distinguishing difference between the damage that occurred due to tornado and the non-tornado winds. Gradually, the tendency of accepting all the damages caused by a disastrous wind, and such wind to be regarded as tornado, came to an end. In his later years, he concentrated much on the course, development and study of the typhoons and hurricanes which were actually very common in his own land, Japan. This area of metrology was not much exposed in United States and it can be easily said that it gained its affirmation holding the hands of Fujita for the further study and experimentation in United States. Conclusion Dr. Theodore Fujita was one of the pioneers in understanding, experimenting, educating and mapping one of the most essential natural threats and phenomena to the mankind called tornadoes. But this is a very commonplace concept. He not only simplified the approach towards these menacing storms but also educated people and made a very simpler and calm way of viewing it and there lies his forte and extraordinary pursuit. He has made immense contribution in the field of severe storm metrology and it is really difficult to access the development of the metrological science in the domain of severe storms deducting the contribution of Fujita. Bibliography Fuzita, Kazuya “Lansing Downbursts of October 24, 2001” December 07, 2011. Michigan State University. < https://www.msu.edu/~fujita/tornado/lansing/011024/index.html> Marshall, Tim “A Tribute to Dr Ted Fuzita” December 07, 2011. Storm Track, No Date. The Tornado Project “Tetsuya Theodore Fujita” December 07, 2011. fScale, 1998. Read More