James Henry Coffin

662:, which helped pick out flaws in the prevailing theory by Hadley. Ferrel used Coffin's data to confirm theories of about the "general circulation of the atmosphere." Indeed, Landsbergh, 1964 credits Coffin's data as being foundational to the creation of mathematical climatology. Youmans argues that Northern Hemisphere was the first to establish that there are three large circulation cells in the Northern, and then later the Southern, hemispheres. This, in combination with Coffin's derivation Buys-Ballot's law, found in another piece, lead Youmans to go so far as to say that Coffin's results "have been referred to in all the treatises on meteorology which have appeared since their publication, and they have been employed with other materials as the basis of the wind-charts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, prepared and published by the English Board of Trade." The Smithsonian institution calls Coffin one of four people to make significant contributions to "one of the most important additions to meteorology of the present day…the establishment of the dependence of the force and direction of the wind upon the pressure of the atmosphere at different points." Henry, the leader of the Smithsonian Institution, called 420: 140: 33: 570: 594:

accurately describe the extent of these winds, each of the three spanning 30° latitude from the equator on top of the other. Another novel contribution was the realization that these wind bands shift with the seasons. When the sun is in its zenith over the northern hemisphere (our summer) the equatorial band moves northward, as do all the others. The reverse happens in our winter.

581:

modifications, the magnitude of those forces, and finally to show, how and to what degree the winds of the lower strata differ from the higher winds. The resulting volume includes over 650 pages of results, again tabulated by parameter and subsequently region. As before, certain subsets are visualized and presented, as exemplified in Figure 2.

459:. Coffin also notes two other methodological issues. First, measurements of velocity were sometimes estimated qualitatively on a 1-10 scale. Second, since cloud height can only be estimated as well, what constitutes the "lower strata" is not entirely clear—especially when differences between upper and lower strata were apparent. 410:

From each station, Coffin aggregated five measurements: the mean direction of wind, its mean speed, mean rate of change over the course of the year, direction and amount of "deflecting forces" that caused such changes, and the ratio of time spent blowing in the direction of the points of the compass.

593:

leads to conclusions that generally agree with those of its predecessor. Woeikof confirms the existence of the two trade winds found above 30° latitude, and established the existence of a third, southwesterly band between 0°-30° latitude. The greater wealth of data also allows Woeikof to give a more

272:

was commissioned by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in an attempt to help predict the occurrence of storms. The second, also commissioned by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was meant to extend the work of the previous publication in light of increased

565:

had a much more expansive data set than its predecessor. In this book, Coffin aggregates measurements of the "lower strata" from 3223 stations across the world. A summary of the distribution of these stations, as well as the sum of the duration of measurements at each station is reproduced in Table

438:

with seasonal temperature differences caused by difference between the relatively stable temperature of large bodies of water, and the much less stable temperature of landmasses. Third, by the same principle, Coffin notes that lakes significantly disrupt wind flow. Coffin believes he can then

580:

In this case Coffin took six measurements: the mean direction of the lower currents, the ratio that the progressive motion bears to the total distance travelled, modifications that the mean current undergoes in the different seasons of the year, the directions of the forces that cause those

623:

of Asia and Australia, as well as their corresponding monsoons. Woeikof was also able to use the effect of landmasses on wind currents to explain the difference in climate between Asia and North America based on the differing geographies of the two regions.

442:

The remainder of the book is spent discussing particular phenomena, and explaining them in terms of the above general principles. It also includes an appendix with excerpts of scientific correspondence that Coffin deemed relevant.

434:, the southwesterly band around 60° latitude, and the northeasterly band above it. He then unified two contemporary theories of global wind systems in order to explain the phenomena. Second, Coffin correlates the prevalence of 281:

was written posthumously. Coffin gathered the data, but died before any detailed analysis could be made of them; Coffin's coworker, Dr. Alexander J. Woeikof performed that analysis instead.

411:

The resulting data set comprises almost 160 pages of tables, sectioned by measurement and subsequently by region. Subsets of this data are also visualized in charts such as Figure 1.

308:—from 579 stations across the Northern Hemisphere. The distribution of these stations, as well as the sum of the duration of measurements at each station is shown in Table 1. 1574: 1362: 1333: 1304: 1275: 1246: 1214: 1182: 1153: 1073: 834: 1584: 439:

straightforwardly claim that, though there are two prevailing trade winds, their course can, and often is, diverted by landmasses and smaller bodies of water.

1530:

Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, Showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the Institution for the Year 1875

1397:

Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, Showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the Institution for the Year 1854

791:

Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, Showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the Institution for the Year 1875

1579: 277:, and provided novel theoretical contributions and a wealth of tabulated raw data for use by others. Finally, it is worth noting that much of 1449: 1599: 1594: 615:

Woeikof then applied these general conclusions to particular instances. Most notably, he was able to explain the mechanism behind the

252:, a position he held until his death. Also, while at Lafayette, he served as treasurer to the board of trustees from 1863 to 1873. 1589: 1604: 612:

contemporaneous theory about the movement of the upper atmosphere, and the effect of gravity on the shape of convection cells.

430:

From this Coffin draws several general conclusions. First, Coffin was able to establish the existence of two of the three

1429: 685: 455:

was its relatively sparse coverage outside the US and Europe; this ultimately became one of the motivation for writing

217: 177: 173: 53: 640:

was not received well due to its spotty coverage of Asia, the Oceans, and Central America. However, NOAA still calls

600:

also made significant progress towards empirically verifying the current theoretical association of the effect of

260:

Coffin made significant contributions to contemporaneous studies of winds. He is most noted for two publications:

220:, from 1840 to 1843, during which he installed an apparatus for detecting the wind's direction and velocity, atop 273:

interest from agricultural, engineering, and manufacturing interests. Ultimately, both were published by the

605: 274: 241: 193: 688: 644:

a "most important work" in the history of meteorology. Additionally, the Smithsonian Institution called

208:

After graduating from Amherst, Coffin became a teacher at various schools and colleges. His career in

1569: 1564: 666:"perhaps the most important contribution to knowledge which the institution has given to the world." 601: 237: 229: 197: 99: 75: 761:

The Biography of a College: Being the History of the First Century of the Life of Lafayette College

732: 296:

In this book, Coffin aggregates measurements of the "lower strata"—any wind directly measurable by

139: 1356: 1327: 1298: 1269: 1240: 1208: 1176: 1147: 1067: 828: 249: 95: 1441: 1445: 1377: 1115: 1092: 1040: 1017: 994: 971: 948: 925: 902: 879: 856: 245: 1349: