V. Walfrid Ekman biography

 V. Walfrid Ekman, in full Vagn Walfrid Ekman, (born May 3, 1874, Stockholm, Sweden—died March 9, 1954, Gostad, close to Stockaryd), Swedish bodily oceanographer greatest recognized for his research of the dynamics of ocean currents. The frequent oceanographic phrases Ekman layer, denoting sure oceanic or atmospheric layers occurring at numerous interfaces; Ekman spiral, utilized in reference to vertical oceanic velocity; and Ekman transport, denoting wind-driven currents, derive from his analysis.

Ekman was the youngest son of Fredrik Laurentz Ekman, a Swedish bodily oceanographer. After ending secondary faculty in Stockholm, Ekman studied on the University of Uppsala, the place he majored in physics. But lectures on hydrodynamics in 1897 by Vilhelm Bjerknes, one of many founders of meteorology and oceanography, positively determined the path of Ekman’s work.

While nonetheless a scholar at Uppsala, Ekman made necessary contributions to oceanography. When it was noticed, through the Norwegian North Polar Expedition, that drift ice didn't comply with the wind path however deviated by 20° to 40°, Bjerknes selected Ekman to make a theoretical research of the issue. In his report, revealed in 1902, Ekman took into consideration the steadiness of the frictions between the wind and sea floor, inside layers of water, and the deflecting pressure because of the Earth’s rotation (Coriolis pressure).

After taking his diploma at Uppsala in 1902, he joined the employees of the International Laboratory for Oceanographic Research in Oslo, the place he remained till 1909. During these years he proved to be a talented inventor and experimentalist. The Ekman present meter, an instrument with a easy and dependable mechanism, has been used, with subsequent enhancements, to the current, whereas the Ekman reversing water bottle is utilized in freshwater lakes and typically within the ocean to acquire water samples at completely different depths with a simultaneous measurement of water temperatures. He displayed his theoretical and experimental skills in his research of so-called lifeless water, which causes slow-moving boats to turn out to be caught due to a skinny layer of almost contemporary water spreading over the ocean from melting ice. This phenomenon, ceaselessly occurring in fjords, severely impeded the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen in Arctic waters. Ekman demonstrated by experiments in a wave tank that the resistance to the movement of the vessels is elevated by the waves which are shaped on the interface between layers of water of various densities.

He additionally derived an empirical components for the imply compressibility (compression ratio divided by strain) of seawater as a perform of strain and temperature. This components continues to be in use in the present day to find out density of deep seawater which is compressed by hydrostatic strain.

From 1910 to 1939, Ekman was professor of mechanics and mathematical physics on the University of Lund in Sweden, the place he pursued his principal curiosity, the dynamics of ocean currents. He revealed theories on wind-driven ocean currents, together with the consequences of coasts and backside topography, and on the dynamics of the Gulf Stream. He additionally tried, with partial success, to unravel the complicated drawback of ocean turbulence.

In 1925 Ekman participated in a cruise of a German analysis ship to the Canary Islands. On discovering that knowledge on currents obtained for a number of days at a number of marine stations between the Bay of Biscay and the Canary Islands weren't adequate to acquire a median determine, he and a colleague, through the years 1922–29, improved the method for measuring currents for a protracted interval by amassing knowledge from an anchored ship. After a number of preparatory cruises for that function off the Norwegian coast aboard a Norwegian analysis vessel, they made a cruise to the trade-wind area off northwestern Africa in the summertime of 1930 to find out the typical present at numerous ocean depths at stations occupied for 2 weeks or longer. Preliminary studies had been revealed quickly after the cruise, however Ekman wrote the ultimate report in 1953 on the age of 79. The lengthy delay in publication, partly owing to the lack of necessary knowledge through the German occupation of Norway, additionally signifies the unparalleled care he took together with his work.

Although his title and achievements had been well-known amongst oceanographers, he not often attended worldwide conferences—however his real kindliness prevented him from turning into a recluse. Most of his academics and buddies, equivalent to Nansen and Bjerknes, had been Norwegian; he spent many holidays in Bergen. He sang a wonderful bass, spent a lot time on the piano, and infrequently composed music. In the autumn of 1953, he started a research of turbid currents, which he continued till just a few days earlier than his loss of life.