Science: Man's Milieu

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Long a naturalized U.S. citizen, Rossby now splits his time between the U.S. and Sweden. In Stockholm he lives in an apartment full of books, pictures, orchids (which he cultivates) and Swedish antiquities. His headquarters in the U.S. is Cape Cod, where he works at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Respect the Planet. Rossby's next project, which may make him spend more time in the U.S., is to bring meteorology into close relationship with the other earth sciences, especially oceanography. The atmosphere affects both the sea and the land, and is affected by them, so meteorologists ought to work closely with oceanographers, geographers and geologists. "The atmosphere," says Rossby, "is man's milieu. Everything that affects it affects man." Long-range study of the milieu, he hopes, may show up the causes of recurrent droughts and wet periods, and of recurrent ice ages. "It would be nice to know," says Rossby, "when the ice will cover our countries again."

A grand era in meteorology will begin when artificial satellites can watch the at mosphere from above. "Right now," says Rossby, "we are like crabs on the ocean floor. What we need is a view from a satellite. Only from a satellite could we see the planetary waves."

But Rossby is not entirely happy about man's fast-increasing powers. Each year the atmosphere is more polluted by man's airborne refuse. Man's atomic operations have already increased the earth's radioactivity. Rossby watches all this with growing misgivings. He feels that the meteorologists and their allies must hurry to understand the atmosphere before some bungler, well-meaning or otherwise, turns it against man. "Tampering can be dangerous," he says. "Nature can be vengeful. We should have a great deal of respect for the planet on which we live."