Name:___________________________________
ATMS 178
3 November 2015
INDIVIDUAL EXAM#02
Choose the single best answer for the multiple choice questions. Each problem in
Questions (1) – (15) is worth 4 points. Questions (16) - (18) together are worth 40 points.
EXAM#02 is worth 100 total points.
(1) Huge profits from the ________ industry during the early war years allowed the
Bergen Museum to initiate the plan for a long-awaited university in West Norway.
(a) shipping, [p. 97]
(b) fishing
(c) aviation
(d) farming
(2) Which factor helped to create a demand for increased knowledge of the atmosphere
and for improved means of weather prediction during World War I?
(a) stagnation tactics (e.g. trench warfare)
(b) mechanization of warfare, [p. 104]
(c) isolationism
(d) blockades of waterways
(3) Vilhelm noted in 1917 that “We are living in an age in which new demands on
meteorology are going to be made on a grand scale,…above all through the ________.”
(a) coming air traffic, [p. 109]
(b) improved steamships
(c) automobile
(d) transcontinental railroads
(4) Name the specific weather feature that Vilhelm intended to focus on when making his
operational weather forecasts during the summer of 1918.
(a) warm sector
(b) surface pressure
(c) lines of convergence, [p. 120]
(d) vortex center
(5) Contrary to the thinking at the time, the summer forecasting experiment revealed that
the thermal structure of a cyclone was ________.
(a) symmetrical
(b) asymmetrical, [p. 127, 128]
(c) reflexive
(d) associative
Name:___________________________________
ATMS 178
3 November 2015
INDIVIDUAL EXAM#02
(6) Jacob’s initial rain and cloud pattern of his cyclone model was a slight modification
of the patterns found in whose classic textbook description of weather in a cyclone?
(a) Hesselberg
(b) Holtfodt
(c) Hann, [p. 134]
(d) Hertz
(7) What was the overall challenge facing Vilhelm’s group in defining a conceptual
model of a mid-latitude cyclone given that most of their observations were taken at the
surface and analysed in two dimensions?
weather consists of three-dimensional structures [p. 134, 135]
(8) Why did meteorological considerations become of primary importance for people
with a financial stake in commercial aviation’s reliability and success (the investors)?
Accidents resulting in loss of life could jeopardize an airline’s ability to attract
passengers; economic success depended on efficient and reliable delivery of goods [p.
144]
(9) What prominent meteorologist protested and abandoned the profession of
meteorology because of the interconnection between meteorology and the military?
(a) Richardson, [p. 145]
(b) Shaw
(c) Reichelderfer
(d) Gold
(10) What was the specific example given by Ernest Gold demonstrating the inadequacy
of the prewar weather classification system as aviation was rapidly developing? The code
did not distinguish between ________.
(a) hot and cold air masses
(b) cloudy or clear conditions
(c) low or high surface pressure
(d) light and heavy precipitation, [p. 147]
Name:___________________________________
ATMS 178
3 November 2015
INDIVIDUAL EXAM#02
(11) Which of the following is not one of the three aspects of weather analysis and
forecasting that meteorologists needed to change at the start of the new epoch in their
field in 1919 if they were to begin resolving the tensions that existed between the state of
meteorology and its social purpose?
(a) military control of weather services, [p. 149]
(b) predictive methods
(c) atmospheric models
(d) theoretical outlook
(12) Vilhelm was convinced that close interaction between dynamic meteorology and
________ was essential for the progress of both. Fill in the blank.
(a) kinematics
(b) statics
(c) daily practical forecasting, [p. 150]
(d) wireless telegraphy
(13) By interpreting finely distinguished ________ observations as signifiers of physical
processes, Vilhem’s forecasters could reproduce surfaces of discontinuities as threedimensional atmospheric structures.
(a) surface temperature
(b) surface humidity
(c) surface pressure
(d) upper-level cloud, [p. 163, 164]
(14) Because [nineteenth-century] governments were not directly involved in commerce,
assisting commercial ventures through ________ was not yet part of political economics.
(a) tax breaks
(b) subsidies
(c) weather forecasting, [p. 176]
(d) funded research
(15) Why did the Bergen school’s 1919 cyclone model have a big impact on forecasting
practices when Shaw’s innovative prewar cyclone model (Figure 19) did not?
Vilhelm purposely connected theory and forecasting practice, while Shaw focused on
theory rather than working to apply his theory in operations [p. 177]
Name:___________________________________
ATMS 178
3 November 2015
INDIVIDUAL EXAM#02
(16) 15 points
As a result of World War I, two measures were taken that worsened the abilities
of Vilhelm and his assistants to make accurate weather forecasts for Christiania and
eastern Norway. Ironically, the war also furnished two resources that might be used to
overcome these barriers to successful forecasting.


Name the two measures taken during WWI that impeded forecast accuracy and
name two resources offered to Vilhelm specifically linked with the military that
could help overcome the barriers to successful forecasting
[p. 119] the black out of weather observations from Britain, Iceland, and the Faroe
Islands and the suspension of the storm warning service for the west coast each made it
more difficult for Vilhelm to “see” what weather was headed for Christiania and eastern
Norway. Thus, WWI produced a “data void.”
[p. 120, 121] the establishment of a network of observation stations on the islands and
skerries comprising Norway’s North Sea archipelago to protect Norway’s neutral waters
from German U-boats opened a new set of observing sites that were placed at Vilhelm’s
disposal by Commodore Ragnar Rosenquist. Not only were the observation stations
placed at Vilhelm’s disposal; so too were naval vessels for transporting him to various
remote locations off the coast. Vilhelm received pledges for cooperation from the chiefs
of the other navy districts on the Norwegian coast, for the North Sea off Trøndelag to the
Skagerak.
Name:___________________________________
ATMS 178
3 November 2015
INDIVIDUAL EXAM#02
(17) 15 points
After the first summer weather forecast experiment (1918) in Norway, Vilhelm
made some proposals for the forecasting service to better promote intimate contact
between “theory and practice.”



Name Vilhelm’s proposed organization changes related to the forecasting service,
name the person who opposed Vilhelm’s proposals, and
name the person who “won” the battle for control of the forecasting service
[p. 153-155] The Bergen Meteorological Observatory (BMO) oversaw the summer 1918
weather forecast experiment under the leadership of B. J. Birkeland. VB considered that
the BMO could be expected to claim responsibility for daily forecasting during the
coming summer (1919) and for any eventual year-round forecasting service. If this were
to happen, the physical distance would pose a hindrance to intimate contact between
“theory and practice.” To avoid this VB put out a pre-emptive strike proposal…
(1) make the forecasting service a permanent year-round institution
(2) bring it under the jurisdiction of his institute (Geophysical Institute of the
Bergen Museum)
Naturally, Birkeland opposed these efforts [p. 155]. Birkeland lost and VB became the
head of the West Norwegian Weather Bureau in July 1919.
Name:___________________________________
ATMS 178
3 November 2015
INDIVIDUAL EXAM#02
(18) 10 points
Match the event with the correct year.
Event
(9)_____ The German Air Transport Company begins passenger service
connecting Berlin, Leipzig, and Weimar
Year of
Event
(1) 1915
(6, 7, 8)_____ The Norwegian Aerial Transport Corporation is established
(2) 1916
(1)_____ British and French weather services are created behind the fronts in
response to poison gas attacks
(3) 1917
(6, 7, 8)_____ The first summer weather forecast experiment takes place in
Norway
(4) 1917
(10)_____ Ernest Gold underscores the problems arising from using a weather
code that does not distinguish between light and heavy precipitation or types of
clouds in an article in Nature
(5) 1917
(3, 4, 5)_____ Food shipments between Germany and Norway are no longer
permitted after January of this year
(6) 1918
(2)____ Shortages in grain and feed concentrate begin to develop in Norway
(7) 1918
(3, 4, 5)_____ Vilhelm, his family, and his assistants return to Norway during
the summer of this year and settle in Bergen
(8) 1918
(3, 4, 5)_____ Norway witnesses a growing wave of enthusiasm for selfsufficiency
(9) 1919
(6, 7, 8)_____ Jacob Bjerknes writes his classic paper “On the Structure of
Moving Cyclones”
(10) 1920
Name:_____________________________________
Work to be included for Problem _____ of Exam _____ in class ATMS _____