Abstract:
The topic of the Principal Lectures for the forty-ninth year of the program was
“Boundary Layers”. The subject centers around those problems in which the boundary
conditions lead to a large gradient near the boundary. Nine of this year’s principal
lectures were given by Joe Pedlosky and the tenth was given by Steve Lentz. The fluid
mechanics of boundary layers was reviewed, first starting from its classical roots and
then extending the concepts to the sides, bottoms, and tops of the oceans. During week
four, a mini-symposium on “Ocean Bottom and Surface Boundary Layers” gathered a
number of oceanographers and meteorologists together to report recent advances. And,
finally, Kerry Emanuel of MIT delivered the Sears Public Lecture to a packed hall in
Clark 507. The title was “Divine Wind: The History and Sciences of Hurricanes.”
